Irreplaceable
by Kiribati
Summary: Tori and Beck were friends and secretly in love, he move away, and after four years they learn that not every love is that easy to move on from. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I'm giving this new story I had in my mind a shot. The story is about Tori and Beck were best friends their entire lives until Beck's Dad was transferred to England in their last year of middle school, the story is set four years later when Beck comes back to finish high school with them. Also, the school is a boarding school (if any of you ever watched Zoey 101 I'm thinking it'll be somewhat like PCA). I hope you guys like it!

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**Irreplaceable **

**2009 **

The morning sun in California was bright, students were saying goodbye to all of their friends and making their way to their parents car, exited from summer vacation, except for two of them. Instead of happiness, and the excitement that the usually felt for three months of no homework and waking up before noon, they felt sad, wishing they had a way of making Beck stay.

His father had been transferred to England a couple of months earlier, and his parents agreed to let their son finish his last year of middle school along with his best friend, his only friend really, but after that there was no way, and he had move back in with his parents, 5437.37 miles away from her.

Beck hugged her tight, his mind rushing with a million different things, but one of them didn't seem to go away. This was going to be the last time he was going to talk Tori in person, and that he had to say it, it's now or never. He took a deep breath, gathering all of the courage he was able to built up and said the three words he had felt for her since he could remember "I love you"

Tori listened to him, and as those words left his mouth she shut her eyes, imagined how good it'd feel if he meant it in the way she wanted him to. She was in love with him, and she would constantly play scenarios in her head of how great they'd be together, and even though every fiber in her body was telling her to say the truth, that she wanted to be way more than friends, she found herself unable to take that risk. If he didn't love her back their friendship would be ruined, and that was a price she didn't want to pay. "Aww Beck, I love you too"

She said that in the most fraternal way she could think of, and Beck caught up on that. They were playing the same game, too afraid to admit what they felt for each other; If only they knew they wanted the same things. "I'm going to miss you like crazy" He admitted as she pulled away, grabbing a pen from her purse and taking his palm.

"We've been best friends since our first in in PCA, you've been studying here for three years! It's not like you go home all the time, are you sure you have to go?" She was willing whatever it took for him to stay, she couldn't imagine her daily life with him. "Who am I going to talk to before my plays? You're my lucky charm" He'd always be backstage throughout the opening night to whatever play Tori was doing, if she panicked or forgot her line, all she had to do was take a peek backstage and her nervous would be gone.

"With me, only... Through a Laptop screen" She needed to touch him, she needed to be with him. She blamed herself for being such a coward, and for not being able to say it.

"I know you're the one that's good at drawing, but..." She began, drawing half of the Yin-Yang, the Chinese symbol that represented balance, each side of it is complementary to the other, not opposing, forces, interacting to form a whole greater than either separate part. "Now you do it on mine" He half smiled as he drew it on her hand, and when he was finished he put the pen back inside her pocket. "This school will not be the same without you"

"C'mon Tor, you're probably the only one that's going to notice that I'm gone" And he was absolutely right, at the very age of fifteen, Beck Oliver was nothing but you're average teenage boy. He had average height, average weight, average grades, he was just that. That's why it struck him, how he hand ended up being best friends to Tori Vega.

She was a part of the theater club, always got the lead to all of the plays, and she was gorgeous. Her wavy brown hair and rosy cheekbones would get her any boy in school she wanted, and yet, she chose to be alone. Beck liked to think that someday she'd tell him she loved him, but then he reminded himself 'I'm just another boy, Tori was made to stand out, I'm not good enough for her'.

"Promise you're not going to replace me with some Brit girl"

He took her hand, and lost her breath squeezing it hard while she was wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek. Both their hearts pounding fast, thinking of the things they wish they had the guts to do. He looked at her and run his thumb over one tear running down her face "Don't cry Tor", he kissed her cheek, and then the other. Unlike all of the previous times, Tori didn't hesitate. Every time either of them tried to get this close to the other one, one of them backed out with a joke, but not at this moment, at this moment they didn't know what to think. She ran her hand on his back and kissed him on the cheek for the second time, she didn't know why they kept doing that, but she didn't want to stop either."You're irreplaceable Tori" She gazed into his eyes, as he held his breath, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. This was it, he could do it, somehow he knew she wasn't going to stop him. They leaned closer, and their hearts a million miles per hour, when his phone rang, it was time for him to go. "I promise" he whispered, walking away as she waved, and watched him get in the cab and drive away.

Unfortunately, that promise was not meant to be kept.

**2013**

**Beck**

I light up a cigarette, to have a few minutes of peace and quiet before getting my stuff and going inside the dorm. I'm still so pissed off my parents made me come back to this place! What's the point of moving your kid in his senior year of high school? Fuck, they could've let me stay just another year, I'd live fine by myself, it's not like they'll be watching me in this boarding school.

The only good thing about this place is that they let the students that are eighteen smoke, otherwise there was going to be no way in hell I'd come here. And that isn't even a good enough reason because if they had let me stay in England I'd be able to smoke whenever I wanted anyways.

The only other factor that makes me have some interest here is Tori, I haven't talked to her in ages, I wonder if she changed as much as I did. "I'm Jade"

I look down at the girl in front of me. She's pretty hot, sure, but she's obviously trying way too hard to try and be rebellious. For starters we're in California, and she's all dressed in black and leather. Wearing high heels and keeping her chin up, as if she was trying to intimidate me, poorly for her she doesn't know me, and it's been a long time since the last time I felt intimidated by a girl. "Hi Jade" I inhale what's left of my cigarette, and throw the tip on the floor, making my way to get my bags.

"You're new" She leans against my car "Can you give me a cigarette? It's unbelievable, no one in this place smokes..."

I chuckle at how hard she's trying to impress me, and she seems annoyed by it. "Do you?"

"if I didn't why would I ask you to give me one?"

I roll my eyes, I'm not in the mood for this "Fine" I hand her one, and totally get her off guard. I grab my lighter and stare her as she struggles to hold the cigarette properly. I turn on the lighter, but she looks reluctant, this is pathetic, running away from the fire. "Bye Jade"

I get my bags and walk away from her, she says something to me but I don't understand what it is, so I just keep going until I'm inside the dorm, looking for my room. No, not my room, the room I'm going to share. Another awful thing about this school? You have to share rooms, only extremely lucky people get singles, and I'm pretty sure I'm not one of them. "Hello?" Oh crap, it's worse than I thought, the guy carries a puppet. "I'm Robbie, and this is Rex, you're Beck Oliver right?"

"...Right" There's one bunk bed, and a single queen size, for some weird reason Robbie decided to get the bottom bunk bed, so I obviously get the single one.

"Dude! This year's room is so much better than last years!" I sit down and open my luggage, when a short guy with dreads, holding a keyboard walks in. "Damn Robbie you're still carrying Rex around?"

"Hey!" The puppet is talking, this is really happening "He can't give up on me, I'm the only one who tolerates him... barely! I can bet that even the new guy already feels uncomfortable around him"

The other guy, the one with the keyboard turns around and stares at me for a few seconds before smiling and offering me his hand "I'm Andre... I know you from somewhere don't I?"

I shake his hand, this one seems to be normal. "I'm Beck"

"You used to study here right? You were Tori's best friend?"

"that was me" He grins and goes back to his bags. I finish unpacking all of my things, putting away my clothes and leave the room for some fresh air, and to get my mind away from the discussion Robbie and Andre are having for about an hour, about some Cat.

I still haven't seen Tori anywhere, and I can't call any of my friends because they're eight hours ahead of me, and are all probably sleeping, great. I should just go get a cup of coffee or something, kill time.

I get in line when I feel someone pushing me, I turn around and she hugs me before I can react "I didn't know you were coming back!"

"Hey..." I look at her "You haven't changed a bit" She still has her long brown hair, pretty great cheekbones, still beautiful.

"I can't say the same to you, I almost didn't recognize you!" She's smiling, and I notice a giant hickey on her neck, I guess she isn't exactly the same.

**Tori**

"Thanks babe" I wrap my arms around his neck and take my feet of the ground as he lifts me up and sit us both down on the bottom bunk. I kiss him, but it burns my chin so I pull away "You gave me a beard burn"

He runs his thumb on my chin and lips "It's not my fault you can't stop kissing me" I look at his piercing blue eyes with a smile, and run my fingers along his stubble jaw.

"You're right" He captures my lips with his, ignoring the small burning feeling "it's worth it" I open my mouth as he hand runs down my back, as I moan softly inside his mouth.

"Cut it out" I pull away, but remain sited on his lap. Jade sits down on the queen size bed bringing in all of her dark bags and dark self. Jade, Cat and I have been roommates for three years which is good because I get to live with two of my best friends, but it also sucks because I get half of the room full of stuffed animals, pictures of puppies and lots and lots of fluff. And on the other I get skulls, scary clowns and other weird thing I prefer to pretend it's not there. "Did you two meet the new student? I think he's a senior"

Our school is kinda small, we have two hundred people tops, so a new student, specially a senior it's big news. "No, do we know him?" She grunts, taking a cigarette out of her pocket and throwing it in the trash.

"I don't if you know him, I just know I don't like him"

"Yeah but you don't like anyone" Ryder says, with his hand running up and down my thigh, and I keep running my fingers on his jaw.

"true" she says, getting up and opening one of her bags. She agreed on letting Cat do half of the décor if she could have the best bed. "Can you two move the making out outside, it's making me sick"

I get up and offer him my hand as Jade starts to take out the weird things from her bag, we head out and he puts his arm around my lower waist "I don't know how you stand the creepy shit that girl does" We walk outside the door, and move over to his car that's parked in front of it.

"You get used to it" He leans against the car and I grab on to the collars of his leather jacket that I love so much and kiss his neck. "What time do you have to leave?" Instead of answering my question he kisses my ear, my cheek and finally my mouth which is much better than talking. I pull away and he kisses my neck, sucking on it. I already know he's going to leave a hickey; Most girls hate those, but not me, it doesn't bother me, I even kind of like it.

"Damn, I have to go" He says, running his fingers through my hair "I'll come back on Friday ok?"

"Ok, I love you" I kiss him on the cheek, and take a step back.

"I love you cheekbones" I grin at the way he calls me by the nickname he gave me, a let him go inside his car, sighting as he drives away. We spent the most amazing summer together, we stayed in LA, we went to parties and Luau's almost everyday and since he has his own place I hardly ever had to go home, hardly ever had to be apart from him. My friends think we started too fast, but any girl in my position would do the same I mean, have they ever taken a look at Ryder Daniels?

Plus he is literally the perfect boyfriend, the only bad thing about our relationship is that he's in his second year of college, so we can't see each other everyday. I take a few steps back, and bump into a person. "I didn't know you were coming back!"

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A/N: Hi everyone, **please review and tell me weather you want me to go with this story or not! **Right now it's a Rori, but I think you can figure out it's not going to stay like that. Love you all,

- Kiribati


	2. Chapter 2

Tori and Beck got their orders and sat down on a table in the corner, the table they'd always sit when they were younger. "It's almost like we're back at two thousand and nine huh" He said, before taking a sip off his coffee and noticed that the shop looked exactly the same, same chairs, same sofa and oddly enough, the guy making the beverages was also the same.

"Except that you didn't have long hair and didn't wore combat boots" she said making him chuckle.

"And you didn't have a boyfriend" He told tell she was wondering how he knew that by just by her face, and thought, for the million time that even though that much time had passed she was still the same, making his mind wander to a place he didn't want to go. If she was still the same, would he fall for her just like before? "Your neck" he says, nodding his head as in a sarcastic 'shame on you' look.

Tori threw her hair over it, hiding both sides of her neck as she blushed involuntarily. "Right, as if you never gave a girl one of these" he smiled shyly as she took a sip of he half drunk coffee. For her, it was weird to imagine Beck with any girl really, as far as she knew he had never had a girlfriend, that was before he left of course. Now that he had this look, it would be almost impossible for him not to have any girl he wanted. She began to wonder if she was that girl... When her phone vibrated, and she quickly looked at it, a new message from Ryder.

_'Your boyfriend, Ryder, remember him Tori? The one that gave you those hickeys'_ She shook the thoughts out of her head, taking another long sip of coffee "What about you? Girlfriend?" She ignored the text message, it couldn't be anything too important.

He unlocked his phone and quickly opened a picture of him, wearing clothes similar to the ones he was now wearing only with shorter hair, but Tori was focusing more on the girl beside him, and how she was the complete opposite of herself. For started she was really tall, maybe even taller than him, she had white blonde hair and was wearing a dark red lipstick, black pants with combat boots just like his, and a see through black and white striped shirt. She also had, as far as Tori could count five piercings on her left ear and a nose ring. Like she had thought, the exact opposite. "That's Pixie" He said, staring at the photo from the summer he had just spent with her, before going away. "If you look at the background..." he zoomed in the photo "You can see the Tower of Pisa"

"You went to Italy?" Tori raised her eyebrows on how serious their relationship must have been, to go away to another country is a whole new level of commitment. She thought about how hard it was for him to leave her, it must have been way worst then when he left school in middle school... _What if this Pixie girl was the love of his life?_ She thought, until she reminded herself that that shouldn't matter.

"Yeah the two of us and some of our friends, on the last summer" He sighted looking at the photo one last time before putting his phone away "Another good thing about Europe, no matter where you are you'll always be a few hours away from the greatest cities in the world" He thought about that summer, how great and yet sad it was. He knew in the end he was going to come back to California but their friends, specially Pixie remained hopeful. They dated for three years, four if you count his first year in England, when he and Pixie weren't seriously, and kept their relationship to friends who occasionally made out. One thing he knew was that those four years were by far the best of his life, and also that he didn't miss Pixie as much as he thought he would, maybe he didn't love her as much as he thought he did. Maybe he didn't love her at all.

"My last summer was way less fancy than yours" She said, taking the last sip of her of coffee "I went to Cabo for a few days with Ryder, it was fun but I'm sure it was nothing like Italy" He rolled his eyes with a grin, not wanting to say anything but couldn't help thinking that yes, Cabo was nothing compared to Italy.

"Ryder's the boyfriend I suppose" This time Tori was the one who took her PearPhone, showing him a picture of her's and Ryder's one year anniversary, where Ryder's holding one of Tori's very bad spicy tuna balls, with a half smile on his face whereas Tori has her arm around his neck trying to stop him from eating it because she knew she was a terrible cook. But Ryder, being the perfect boyfriend that he always is eat them all, even said they were 'nice'. Beck looked at the picture, and at first thing that crossed his mind was _'what the hell is that guy eating', _and the second was that it was the weirdest thing to see Tori this close to any guy... He didn't know why, but he didn't like it.

"That's him, he's in his second year at College" She finished her coffee, putting the empty cup aside noticing that Beck had left almost half of his. "I think you'd like each other" she said, looking at the time, it was almost nine and she hadn't even started to unpack... But the last thing she wanted was to stop talking to him.

_'I doubt that'_ He thought, but instead of saying it he just nodded with a half smile on his face, as she looked at his half drunk cup of coffee.

"Are you going to finish this?" She asked, and it took her a second after he said no, to finish up the hot beverage. Tori loved coffee, she loved coffee more than she loved Ryder, and she'd always think that if coffee was a person, she'd already be married to him.

They went on talking, and before either of them knew it they had fallen back into the same pattern as four years ago, laughing with the nostalgic feeling of the amazing thing they used to have, until the student that had prepared their coffee warned them that the coffee shop was closing. "Shit, it's ten already?!" Tori said, getting up and putting her phone on the back pocket, as Beck opened the door for her. "Oh wait!" She said, as they stopped in front of the shop, that now had all its doors locked.

"What is it?" Beck asked, looking around the empty campus, there were only a few students walking around. Every grade had their respective curfews, middle school students couldn't stay out past ten, and freshmen year's and sophomores could stay until eleven, junior's could stay until midnight, and seniors didn't have a curfew. At least he had that much freedom, the one hobby that he had in England, that he's able to maintain is walking around, at any time that he wants, smoking, but smoking nothing but cigarettes of course. He rolled his eyes at the thought, if the state of California legalizes weed, why couldn't he smoke that too?!

"I don't have your number, I think I still have the old one but..." She shook her head, looking through her contacts "Here, save yours and I'll text you" He gave her his number, as they began to walk back to their dormitories. Beck grabbed his pack of cigarettes, he wanted to smoke at least one more before going to sleep, and quickly lighted it up. "You smoke now?" He inhaled before answering her, as they started to make their way back to their dormitories. "interesting"

"why is it interesting?" Tori hated the smell, but she loved the way it looked, it's the most cliche thing in the world, but she couldn't help but find smoking extremely sexy. Even though it was habit she would never take up on, she tried cigarettes once, and she hated so much she actually bought a pack of cigarettes just to destroy them.

"It's interesting because I wouldn't think you'd be type of guy that just stands alone outside of a restaurant for ten minutes" They stopped in front of a small square, that was between the boys and girls dorm.

"I guess I like to have those ten minutes for myself" He inhaled again, standing in front of her, as a couple of freshmen girls ran passed them giggling and waving at Beck, both him and Tori ignored them, he was used to it, and Tori figured that this type of thing happened to him now that he was... No, she couldn't let herself think like that.

"But it is an addiction" He put his hands on his pockets, trying to figure out of a proper way to say goodbye. "those are never good" she argued, as he blew a smoke ring into the air. Even thought Tori didn't tell him, she thought those rings were actually pretty cool.

"We all have our addictions" he ran his fingers through his hair.

"I don't" she debated, cutting off his smoke rings with her index finger.

"So are you saying you'll go fine if you don't drink at least two cups of coffee a day?"

"Why I..." She stopped herself, that one she couldn't argue with, she was known for he coffee dependence. The coffee shop closed during thanksgiving on last year's, and since she didn't come home she had to stay two days without her fresh, black coffee. And on that week people decided to call her Grumpy Tori. "I guess your right" She turned around and started to walk away.

"Not even a goodbye?" He asked, nodding his head as he inhaled yet again.

"Well I just thought you should have those ten minutes" she answered, waving goodbye before walking inside the dorm, as he sat in one of the wooden benches to finish his cigarette.

Tori walked inside her dorm, going past the main lobby, where some girls were having a 'Gossip Girl' marathon, and taking out her keys, but her mind was outside, thinking about Beck. It was impossible for her not to do so, he had changed so much, and yet he sounded like the same guy. Of course he now had a weird accent when saying a couple of words here and there, and instead of saying 'trash' he said 'bin', but behind the great hair and the cigarettes and the great clothes, she could see the guy she was once in love with.

"Toriii!" As she opened the door, a much smaller girl, with red hair and a purple, puffy dress embraced her. "Where have you been?! You missed dinner, Robbie is still carrying Rex around, and he's even meaner"

"I know..." She answered, sitting down in her bed, and opening one of her bags "I'm not really that hungry" she said, taking out some of her gym clothes.

"Where were you?" Jade asked, noticing that her roommate seemed completely off reality, she just hadn't decided if it was in a good or bad way.

"I was talking to a friend" Tori answered, feeling anxious all of a sudden, and whenever she felt like that, Tori ran. Running releases endorphin's, and just like coffee, she was addicted to them, running made her feel free, even when she was completely trapped, and it helped her figure things out, even when she didn't know she had something to figure. "I'm going for a run" she said, changing her clothes and tying her shoelaces, walking out before Jade started insisting on who that friend was. She knew her friend well enough to know that curiosity always got to best of her, and that she, always got the best out of curiosity. She also knew that she wasn't ready to get into the Beck subject.

"She's acting weird" Jade said, sitting down in her bed and opening up her laptop, onto the school's website.

"She's also smelling like professor Gilmore" Cat stated, climbing on to her top bunk, that she impeccably decorated as a pink and orange castle.

"Like professor Gilmore?" Jade thought out loud, he was their math teacher... That was smoked, a lot. And Jade knew that only one student in this school smoked, the jerk she ran into. Why was Tori talking to that guy? And why did he make her feel weird?

She was destined to find out.

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A/N: Hello everyone! Please, if you want me to go on with this story REVIEW! I want to know if I should, love,

- Kiribati


	3. Chapter 3

On the right side of the square, at the girls dorm, Tori's alarm went off, and it wasn't just the sound that woke Tori up, it was the fear of waking up Jade, she was literally a monster when she first awoke. And in the first year the three girls shared rooms, Cat had as her mission to make Jade more pleasant in the morning, needless to say after three times of getting hit by a strangely hard pillow, Cat stopped trying.

She got up tripping over her yet packet bags, and reminded herself of why she had gotten up so early. She sat back down, and started to grab the rest of her things and put them away in the drawers she had, hoping she'd finish quickly enough that'd get the time to jog before going to class. Just thinking about going four more days without seeing Ryder, made her feel anxious enough, she didn't even wanted to think about the other reason she was still feeling like that, she wasn't ready to open those doors yet.

On the other side of the square, more specifically on room fourteen, where Robbie Shapiro was already dressed, sitting on his bed finishing getting ready to school, and that meant having an argument with Rex. "Why are you so cheap?!" The puppet yelled, making Robbie weep "all I asked for was some Jordan's! Not these damn Adidas!"

"I'm sorry!" He pleaded, when Beck, that up to that point had two pillows over his head, trying his best to block out his and roommate and his puppet, which seemed to be impossible.

"OK, TIME OUT!" Andre yelled, and grabbed Rex from the bottom bunk, making Robbie freak out, and start to complain, until Beck threw one of his pillows at him, finally being able to re-store the silence, but Beck had already lost his sleep. Since his body was still functioning in the English time zone, six AM felt like noon, and not only was he sleepless, he also kind of felt like he should have lunch, instead of breakfast.

"Fuck..." he breathed out, slowly dragging himself to the bathroom, to brush his teeth, tying his hair up in a bun. He never thought that at the first day of school, his first thought in the morning would be _'I have to get rid of that bloody puppet_'. He went back inside, picked up some random clothes and his pack of cigarettes, and headed outside.

"wait up!" Robbie yelled, running after him, and coughing as Beck blew out the smoke. They kept walking side by side towards the administration building, while Robbie ranted about how important it was for him to stand up to Rex from time to time, even thought it always ended up in a gluten accident. Beck decided it wasn't worth asking what he meant by that. "You don't talk much, do you?"

Beck glanced at him, and got inside the building without saying a word. Beck wasn't a talker, a lot of people would say that he was shy, but after a while all of them figured out he just liked to keep most of his thoughts to himself. He liked to observe people, basic human behavior, he'd pick up on small things people did that others wouldn't normally notice, like when Pixie was angry at him, but didn't want him to notice, she'd breathe heavily and never look him in the eye, that way he'd know what to expect from her. Reading people was almost like a hobby, and it had always been ever since he could remember, that why it was so hard for him to try and figure out what had happened on that day.

The day he left to go to England, when Tori let him cross the friendship line for the first time... Ever. But not soon enough for them to figure out what had happened, there was too much tension, and none of them could figure out what the other wanted. That was what made Beck go crazy, he couldn't read her in that way. He was able to tell, even after all those years, when she was starting to get annoyed, or when she wanted to say something that she couldn't; But he could never understand why she allowed him to get that close. But after a few months, he became determined to pretend that had never happened, there are some things in life you can't figure out, but every minute he spent with her made it harder.

And it was just about to get worse.

The building was empty, except for the lady behind the desk, and Tori. She turned around with the paper shit in her hand "Hey Tori!" Robbie said, walking in her direction, but she went the other way, and pulled Beck into a hug.

"You smell like cigarettes" she told him as they pulled away.

"And your breath smells like coffee" He shoot back, before noticing the clothes she was wearing, if you could even call them that. She was wearing a sports bra and very, very short Nike shorts with her hair up in a ponytail, and Beck was having a real hard time concentrating, specially now, that the hickeys on her neck were completely exposed. He caught himself thinking about that Ryder guy, and he suddenly started hating him. A lot. "One sec" He told her, moving on to the counter to get his schedule, and Tori followed him. Both of them ignoring Robbie's existence.

The lady printed out and before he could take a look at it, Tori took it from his hand and walked outside. "We have english and history together" she said, handing it back to him as she noticed the way he ran his fingers through his hair, and how he looked incredibly good doing so. 'No' she reminded herself, snapping out of those thoughts. "I should get going, to get ready for class" She checked the clock, and Robbie approached them again, saying something about their past math teacher, but was once again ignored. Beck only had eyes and ears for Tori, and she for him.

"Yeah, sure" He said, she stood there for a few seconds before he initiated another hug which she felt giddy about, but that's wrong, sh thought, the only person she could feel giddy with was Ryder, right? She pulled away with a smile she wasn't able to shake off, and started to run back to her room.

She stopped in front of her dorm, and took her cellphone "Good morning baby"

_"...hey...morning_" she sat down at a bench, and cursed herself for waking him up.

"I woke you didn't I? I'm sorry..."

_"It's fine... Just know that I might fall asleep..." _She took her Pearphone away from her ear, and snapped a photo of herself with puppy eyes and sent it to him_ "I'm definitely awake now"_ She smiled._ "What are you doing?"_

"I just finished jogging"

_"In those clothes Cheekbones?"_ she rolled her eyes, and sight not to lose her temper.

"Don't be jealous"

_"I'm not"_ she could hear him yawn, and thought about how cute he always looked when he did so _"I just don't want the other guys to stare at my girl"_

"Let them, I'm not looking back at them" She checked her watch "shit! I'm going to be late, I love you, miss you!"

_"Love you too"_ she hung up and ran inside her room, where Jade and Cat were having breakfast.

"Morning" she said, sitting down in her bed to grab a towel.

"Why didn't you tell us Beck Oliver was coming back?" Jade asked, and Tori looked at her, confused. "And that you spent three hours doing Satan knows what with him yesterday?"

"and that he's hot now" Cat added from her top bunk or as she liked to call it, castle. "Does Ryder know?"

"That I was talking to a friend?" She made her way to the bathroom, and turned on the water.

"a friend you used to be in love with!" Jade yelled back.

"Exactly, used to" she reaffirmed them, before shutting the door and going under the shower. _'Used to'_ she thought, only this time she was reaffirming herself.

Beck sat down on the fifth row out of seven in the classroom, waiting for his first class to begin. He opened his sketch book, and continued to work on the drawing of an eye that faded into a feather, Pixie asked him to do the design of her next tattoo and he was really close to finishing it, he planned on giving it to her the next time she went to England which he hoped it was soon. "that's so rad" he looked up, and saw a small blonde girl with an orange dress staring him. "You're like, such a good artist"

She took the notebook from his hand, and stared it up close, but soon put it back down. "I bet you're really good with your hands... I'm Meredith by the way" she twisted her hair with her index finger, and Beck rolled his eyes as she kept smiling.

"MOVE!" Jade yelled, making the girl run across the room in fear_ 'at least this one's act is good for something'_ Beck thought. She sat down in front of him, and turned around "So, you're Beck Oliver huh?" He put his notebook away, since apparently people couldn't just leave him alone "sure changed a lot since two thousand and nine"

"ok?" He sat back and crossed his arms, recognizing some of the students in the class, but none seemed to recognize him.

"And what's up with the layers, it's eighty degrees outside" She didn't know why she felt the way she did, but even though Beck was always a jerk to her, she felt drawn by him. And she hated it. Beck on the other hand was irritated by all of that, why was she so interested in him? He made it pretty clear that he wanted to be left alone, and if she was trying to come across as anything other than annoying, it wasn't working.

"I'm only wearing a jacket" He answer, as the teacher walked inside the class. She grunted, and turned back to face the board.

His first classes went by, but he didn't pay too much attention, he pretty much sketched through all of them until the lunch bell rang, and he rushed back to his room. He figured that was the only time he'd be able to be alone for a while. He opened the door, grabbed his laptop and sat on his bed, turning on the video chat.

_"Beck!"_ He turned on his camera with a smile, he felt really good to be able to talk to a familiar voice. _"Oh gosh, two days there and you already look like a California boy_" she said, trying her best American accent.

"First of all, no I don't, second, your accent sucks and third, I think I finished your tattoo" She clapped her hands as he showed her his notebook.

_"That's perfect"_ she tied her hair up, showing off the several piercings on her ear and turned around to show him where she wanted it_ "do you think it'll look good?"_

"of course it will" She turned back and rested her head on her hands looking at him.

_"I miss you like crazy"_ She admitted, and she really did. She loved Beck, he was her ex boyfriend but he was also her best friend. And now that classes had started he missed him even more, they'd always cut class together, since all of their other friends liked to pay attention in school so they wouldn't have to study, Pixie and Beck on the other hand rather cut class and study the day before the test. They didn't have the best grades, but they had a lot of time to do all of the other stuff, which was what they wanted.

"I miss you too" She put her fingers on the screen, when a small boy entered her room.

_"Mum, Pixie is saying naughty things to her boyfriend!"_ he yelled.

_"Shut up you twat!"_ she kicked the door shut, and Beck grinned at the familiar scene, every time he went to her house her little brother would do something like that, or steal the key to her door so they couldn't lock it, and even though it annoyed him a lot at the time, now he almost missed it._ "Sorry for my brother, he's just being a little CUNT TODAY!"_

They kept talking, and both of them lost track of time. He told her about Robbie's puppet situation, how he was the only smoker at the school, but before he could even realize it, he started talking about Tori, saying a lot more than what he wanted. Pixie noticed the way his eyes locked when he talked about when he was younger, and how he smiled when he mentioned her name; She was very jealous, that was undeniable, but what was clear to her wasn't as clear for him, and she knew it would take him a long time to realize what he was feeling, what he _had_ been feeling for a long time. But she wasn't going to help him doing that, that was too much for her.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey guys! I hope you liked this one,** please review!** Love you all,

- Kiribati


	4. Chapter 4

Beck and Tori walked out of their last period as their weekend started. They were talking about the essay they had to wright for their English class, and how they thought it was pure cruelty to give out homework on the first week of school.

"Hiii!" Cat exclaimed, as she, Jade and Robbie, that currently had put Rex on a time out inside his backpack, joined them. "Are you excited for the weekend?!" Cat asked, skipping around them "They're premiering a new monkey-spy movie!" Beck sighed, thinking about his past weekends in the UK. The last thing he and his friends would consider doing was watch a spy-monkey movie, and now...

"So" Andre said, as he walked towards them, holding his keyboard as usual. "Are you gonna leave us this weekend?" he asked Tori, and Beck also turned his attention to her.

"Yep" Tori said, as she opened a smile "It's our one year and a half anniversary tomorrow"

"Aw sweet" Cat added, and Beck was already getting tired of talking about that guy, 'the boyfriend', even though everyone else seemed to love him."What are you going to do? Something special right?" She chuckled walking backwards to face the group, as her red hair blew against the wind. Beck thought Cat was going to be a big problem for him, since she could come across as annoying to a lot of people. But somehow he warmed up to her, he felt almost as if she was his little sister... Or a pet. A pet that got very easily offended.

"Not really, we're just gonna hand out..." Tori answered trying to seem casual, liking she wasn't looking forward to it, and by looking forward she meant counting every minute till he picked her up.

"And by hanging out she means lots and lots of se-"

"Jade!" Tori cut her off, but it was enough for her cheeks to turn a bright, red color. And for Beck to hate that guy even more. They kept walking, when a car honked, pulling over next to them.

"Cheekbones!" Tori smiled, looking back at her friends for half a second before she got in the car and planting a brief kiss on her boyfriend's lips. "See you guys on Sunday!" She said, before he drove off. But it had given both Ryder enough time to look at Beck, and to know he didn't like him.

'Who is that guy?' He thought. He had never been suspicious of any of Tori's friends because, well, Robbie wasn't a threat. And Andre not only had a fanclub of girls following him because he could sing and play basically any instrument he put his hands on, and plus he had never shown any interest on Tori. But Beck... He had the one thing Ryder hated most on guys, confidence.

Beck watched her get inside the car, and looked at the boyfriend, that was staring right back at him, and he noticed that, just like he figured, they didn't like each other. Not that he minded that, it's not like he planned on being best friends with the guy, and Beck wasn't planning on making any moves on her. And it was pretty obvious to him that Tori was very much in love with Ryder. Still, Beck thought something didn't tick right about that guy... but it wasn't in his place to find out why.

"So, does she always leaves?" He aked, as they kept walking towards the girls room. That was the place they hung out the most, since it was bigger than the boys room, even though Jade's decor scared Robbie.

"Most of them" Andre told him, as he got in the girl's dorm "Ryder picks her up on Friday, and drops her of on Sunday" Jade unlocked the door, and they got in. She and Beck were friendly, but he had no interest in being any more than that, which didn't seem to be what Jade wanted. But as long as she wasn't being to insisting or annoying, he didn't mind.

* * *

Tori sat down on Ryder's bed, brushing her wet hair as she looked around. His apartment remained the same as the first time she got here, a small loft with divided in three rooms. His bedroom, the single bathroom and the living room and kitchen. But she liked it, it felt grown up. She wondered how her life would be next year, she applied to a lot of colleges, and if she got in to Berkeley, where Ryder attended, would she move in with him? She liked to think that she would, she even pictured what changes she'd make in the loft, and how good it'd be to live in a place without skulls or stuffed animals.

"What do you think? Is this better for you?" He got out of the bathroom wearing only his jeans and showing her his new, impeccably shaved face. "Even though now I look like I'm sixteen?"

She got up, putting the brush aside, placing her hands on his jaw and planting soft kisses on it "Smooth, my chin says thanks" He brushed her lips against hers, and she slid her hands down to his neck "now I can kiss you as much as I want" she told him, before he pressed his hands on her lower back pulling her closer and kissing her deep and passionate.

She pulled away after a while to finish getting ready to go back to school. She grabbed the brush and continued to brush, as Ryder leaned against the wall, thinking back at Friday, when he picked her up. "Who's that new guy in your group?"

"Right!" She put the brush down and started to look for her feather earring. "I didn't even introduce you guys" For a while Tori thought it'd be a good idea to introduce the two of them, she could easily picture them being friends, but now she had a feeling it wasn't such a good idea. She didn't know why, but there was something on the back of her mind that said they wouldn't like each other, at all. "That's Beck, he's not new actually, we were really good friends in middle school but he moved away" 'Really good friends' she thought, that was a bad way to describe it. "to England, but now he's back"

"Really good friends?" He asked her, furrowing his eyebrows which made Tori smile, because she thought he looked really sexy doing so.

"Pretty much" she had no intention of telling him about the almost kiss, or that she used to love him, she just really wanted to change the subject. "Why are you so curious?" She finally found her earring, and Ryder sat down on the bed.

"It's nothing, I just though that you have a pretty closed group it was a surprise to see a new member" She walked towards him, resting her hands on his shoulders.

"We're not a secret society" She answer, kneeling on the bed to be just a bit higher than him, and looking down as he gripped her waste, placing two fingers under his jeans, and brushing her skin.

"Ok, ok" he told her, lifting her shirt and kissing her stomach near her bellybutton "I think we still have some time" he looked up at her as she sat down in his lap, with her legs on either side of his. "Wanna celebrate our anniversary again?"

"I thought you would never ask" she said, as she pushed him down to the bed.

* * *

Beck exhaled, putt

* * *

ing out his cigarette and taking his pencil to continue to draw, it seemed like apart from _Skyping_ with Pixie and his old friends, that was the only thing he had done over the weekend. He rested his hands on the grass where he was sited, he preferred to sit on the floor way better than he did at chairs or benches; He liked to imagine that the ground was the world's biggest couch, specially when it was made of sand, or grass.

"Hey there" He looked up to see Tori walking towards him. "I can see that you still like to sit on the floor" he smirked, as she sat down beside him, crossing her legs and looking forward.

"I can see that you didn't forget that" He answered, putting his pen back down.

"How could I forget about the world's biggest couch?" he chuckled, as she lied down on the grass. She was exhausted, a good kind of exhausted, but still she felt like she had done major workout, and that she needed to sleep at least for fifteen hours. One of the perks of going to boarding school, she could cut her first period tomorrow with fake cramps, and have no parents to tell her otherwise. "Where's everyone else?" She asked him.

"Watching the spy-monkey movie" He looked down at her, at her messy hair and at the new, and even bigger hickey in her neck that could only mean one thing, a thing he liked to prefer she hadn't done. He shouldn't care what she did, and didn't do with her boyfriend. "How was the anniversary?"

"Pretty good" she answered, as a cold breeze went by and she shut her eyes for a brief moment, she really was tired, but she didn't want to stop talking to Beck either. Even though she loved her weekend with Ryder, there was a part of her that wished she had spent some time with Beck, she still felt like there was a lot to catch up on after those four years. "How was your first weekend at school?"

"Pretty uneventful" He lied down by her side, and they stayed in silence, which didn't bother them. They felt comfortable around each other, like they had picked up right where they had left off, treating each other just like they did four years ago. They felt good when they were together, like they didn't had to think too much, or search for new things to avoid the awkward silence, being together, even if they didn't say a word, was enough.

Or maybe, they were just afraid. Afraid that if they talked to much, they might say something they would regret.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone, I hoped you liked this one! **Please review**, love,

- Kiribati


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey baby" Tori said, distancing herself from her group of friends to talk on the phone. But mostly she was distancing herself from Beck, she didn't like to talk to Ryder, or about Ryder, near him, it felt wrong. "My play rehearsals start this Friday..." She told him, and heard him sigh on the other side of the line.

_"already?"_ She sat down at a bench, as the rest of her group made their way to the cafeteria line. _"Are they going to be all weekend like last year?"_

"Not yet, they're every Friday until seven or eight"

_"Then I'll be there to pick you up at nine_" She heard some guy talking on the background, and got up. _"I gotta go cheekbones, love you"_

"Love you too" She hung up, and walked back to cafeteria to meet her friends. Sikowitz had mailed all of theater club a play over the summer, and asked who wanted to participate, Tori of course was the first one to reply, so they sent their auditions online and Sikowitz cast them. The teacher thought it was easier that way because, if Jade hadn't gotten the part she wanted, she wouldn't be able to actually, physically hurt him, and by the time classes started she would have gotten over it. He started rehearsals at the first week of classes, and two months in they were going to start the dress, light and sound rehearsals.

"I think Cecilia is such an idiotic character" Jade said, criticizing the character Tori played, and that was the main character.

"You're only saying that because you didn't get it" Tori sat down with her plate of food, between Beck and Cat. "You gonna come watch us today?" She asked Beck, that took a bite of his hamburger "I could use having my lucky charm back"

He half smiled, still chewing and Jade rolled his eyes. "Of course" he said, before taking another bite. "Let me see the script" Cat took it out of her purse, and handed it to him. Hers was orange with pink font, and smelled like candy. He read the first page, and looked up at Tori "Dude your character kisses Shawn's, a lot"

Tori shrugged, as he kept reading it. "They're stage kisses, it feels fake" she said.

"Yeah once it you get used to it, it's almost like shaking hands" Andre told him.

"Wanna shake hands?" Rex asked Tori, that pushed the puppet away. Beck finished his plate, and reached for Tori's taking one of ther fries.

"Hey!" she tried to slap his hand, but he was faster bringing the fry to his mouth. "Don't eat my food!" He chewed with a grin on his face, as he reached over to grab another fry. "Stop!" She took it from his hand, and ate it, but he got another one and she took away, he tried to take another, but Tori placed her hand on Beck's mouth, looking at him with superiority. "Now even if you take them, you can't eat" She smirked, and ate a fry with one hand, while keeping the other on his face.

He looked over at the plate, he wasn't hungry anymore, but he wasn't going to loose it like that. He slightly bit her hand, and quickly took it away from her mouth, which was time enough for him to begin eating again. "I won" he said, and she nodded her head, and looking at his plate, there was nothing she could take from it...

"Not so quick" she said, grabbing his drink and taking a long sip of it, and they both chuckled, until Jade grunted and walked away.

_'They make me sick'_ she thought 'playing those stupid games, a smile here, a kiss on the cheek there, just make out!' She hated those people, that were clearly into each other, but did nothing about it, or were too afraid to admit it. And there was something about Tori and Beck that made her furious, why couldn't they admit what they felt? To her it was obvious that Tori was still in love with him, she acted like a fourteen year old when she was near him, and as far as Beck went, it was pretty obvious to her too. She admitted, she was somewhat drawn to him in the beginning of the year, but seeing the way he treats Tori, and how she treats him, with all the cheesiness, and fluff, Jade could only think one thing at her previous feelings, barf.

* * *

It was three o'clock, and the stage of the school was packed with students, ready to begin the dress rehearsal, except for one guy, the lead actor.

"Where's Shawn?" Sikowitz yelled, turning everyone's attention to it. Tori looked around, she had been so distracted with Beck she didn't even notice he was gone, and since he was the male lead in the play, they couldn't rehearse until he was there. Sikowitz started to look for him again, and Tori's attention went back to Beck. "Where's my Trip?!" He yelled, making some of the crew guys look with him.

"Don't you guys have a substitute or something?" Beck asked, and Tori shrugged, she didn't care to have the rehearsals start a bit later, Shawn was probably just getting high somewhere, she thought, or riding his skateboard since, apart from theater, that was all he did.

"Not really" Tori said, even thought she should be looking for like everyone else. "Wouldn't it be cool if he was just like sleeping in the backstage while everyone looks for him?" Beck chuckled, and nodded his head, tapping his fingers on the stage.

"I'd love to see Sikowitz's reaction to that" He looked over at one of the senior students that are helping Sikowitz with the lights running across the stage, and saying something to teacher, that slowly turned around to face Tori and Beck, that stopped talking.

"Beck!" Sikowitz yelled, and the boy looked at him in surprise, as did Tori. "You look similar to Trip's character and I bet you can act a little, you're now the official understudy! Ok?" He took a long sip off his coconut juice, and smiled right afterwards as if he had solved all of his problems with that one sip. Beck looked at Tori, hesitating, Shawn's character, Trip, and Tori's character, Cecilia, kissed a lot on the play. And Beck would be more than happy to take his place on it but she on the other hand, didn't look too happy to him.

"Well..." Beck said, as Tori kept looking at him in doubt, but she knew it was too late, Sikowitz would make him do it._ 'Maybe he'll only have to say the lines'_ Tori hoped, as Sikowitz told Beck what do to. Beck got up and gave Tori a hand to help her up, taking a step closer as everyone started to take their positions.

"Is this going to be weird? I can escape and..." Tori forced a smile.

"No, it's just acting, right?" Beck nodded his head, and walked to the side of the backstage Shawn should be on.

Tori stood at one side of the backstage, looking at the other where read the script in his hands. She looked back down at her own, reading the first scene she had done over fifty times with Shawn, and had to do now with Beck. She had to run up to the middle of the stage, say Shawn's character name, Trip, and they kissed. She started to feel her heartbeat racing,_ 'what's going on with me?'_ she wondered. She should't be nervous about it, that was definitely not a good sign.

"Begin!" Sikowitz yelled, and Beck did exactly like he should have. He ran up to the center of the stage, and looked around, that was Tori's cue to go. 'Maybe I won't have to kiss him' she thought, running towards him, her heart pounding way harder than she wanted it to.

"Trip!" She said, but instead of coming close enough for him to pull her close, she stopped halfway.

"Tori! Why did you stop?!" Sikowitz got up, with his hands on his waste. "Let's do it again, follow the script please"

"what's wrong Tor?" Beck asked her, and she took a step back, nodding her head with another fake smile. 'How could he be so relaxed about it?' she thought, wasn't he afraid that kissing her would ruin their friendship? Make everything weird?

"Unless" she said, quietly to herself as she walked back to the backstage. If it was easy for him to do so, it had to be because he didn't like her... Not that she liked him, it was just old feelings coming back and confusing her, right? "and it's just a kiss" She said, before waiting for her cue and going back to the stage, stopping a few inches away from him; But for some reason she couldn't get his name out, that is, the character's name.

"TORI!" Sikowitz yelled in desperation, this time walking to the stage and shaking her by her shoulders, as Tori frowned. "At least I know you're not paralyzed, what's the matter?'

"Do we have to kiss? I mean he's not actually going to be on the play..." Sikowitz laughed, and scratched his head.

"It's better to kiss him, in case Shawn is dead, I mean that's the only acceptable reason for him not be here, right Elvis?" Beck shot him a look, and shrugged trying to seem indifferent. But he could see how nervous Tori was, and if she was nervous... If she was feeling like he was, that could only be because of one reason, but a reason he couldn't allow himself to believe. "And that way, you two can warm up to each others mouths, let's roll" Sikowitz got down from the stage as Beck continued to watch Tori's reaction.

He slightly squeezed her shoulder, in another attempt to figure her out. "You ok?"

"Yeah, let's do it" She said, with a nervous smile, walking back to her side of the backstage.

"The curtains open!" Sikowitz yell, and the lights go on, giving Beck his cue to run up to the middle of the stage, and looking around waiting for Cecilia. But his mind was far away from the character, for one he had been playing Trip for five minutes, but even if he had been playing for years, he wouldn't be able to focus, knowing that he was seconds away from kissing that girl. "Cecilia enters!"

He heard Tori's steps, and turned around to see her coming his way, but unlike the previous times she didn't stop, and he did what he was supposed to do, placing one of his hands behind her ear, with his thumb on her cheek and his other hand pressing her against his body. He felt her hands on his chest and the back of his neck, and looked at her for a second and noticing that her eyes were fixated on his mouth. He did what he had to do, but not because the script told him to.

He pressed his lips against hers, feeling her hand on his chest grip his shirt, and the other one dig in his hair. Their minds went blank, and their bodies went numb, except for their lips. In that moment, neither Tori or Beck knew where they were, why they were kissing, they didn't even know their names, they just knew they wanted feel that again and again. Beck stayed still, when he was surprised to feel her tongue pressing against his closed mouth, and did what his instincts told him to, as Tori moaned quietly to the kiss, which woke him up.

That was Tori. He was kissing Tori, and she's letting him. He tightened his grip around her, when it hit him again, it was a stage kiss. They were in front of fifty people... He wanted to kiss her more, he really did, but not like this. "I'M HERE!"

She pulled away, jumping at the scream coming from backstage. It was Shawn, Beck looked at him, then back at Tori. He wanted to punch Shawn for showing up, and then he wanted to take Tori to somewhere where fifty people weren't watching; He had been wondering, for four years, how kissing her would feel like, and now he felt like he had gotten a teaser, a pretty good one, and every fiber of his body ached for the whole thing.

Tori sighed and looked back at Beck, her mind now rushing a thousand miles per hour. She looked up at him, he heart caving into her chest as she thought about what had just done, bringing her fingers up to her mouth and looking up at him in shock. She took a step back, before he could say anything else, and ran back to the backstage. She replayed the past minute over and over again in her head. She thought about all of the hundred kisses she had with Shawn, those were stage kisses, unlike now, with Beck. She didn't know what to think, she knew how she felt, she felt like she imagined she would, four years ago, when she was in love with him...

She couldn't catch her breath "Is it possible?" she whispered, her eyes looking at the stage, scanning through the auditorium, but he was no longer there.

* * *

**A/N:** Hi everyone, thank you SO much for the reviews on the last chap! **Please review** this one too, Love y'all,

- Kiribati


	6. Chapter 6

Beck walked out of the auditorium, with too many different questions in his head. He light up a cigarette, smoking it to kill the craving he was feeling, but it didn't seem to work. _ 'When you're itching for the waves, the only lotion is the ocean'_ he thought, and the only thing that would end that feeling was Tori... To bad it wasn't that simple. The question he was asking himself the most was why she had walked away, that just didn't make any sense! He knew she couldn't kiss Shawn like that every time, Andre told him that stage kisses were just like shaking hands, and what had just happened between them had nothing to do with a hand shake!

He couldn't figure out what had gone through her mind, and he could hear Sikowitz telling everyone to go back to rehearsing, he wasn't going to be able to talk her, and he figured that was going to be a conversation longer than the few seconds the teacher would give him. He pressed speed dial one, as he sat down in the grass of the campus park. _"Fuck...dude...it's four am"_

"Tori and I just kissed" Saying the words out loud made him even more frenetic, so he light up another cigarette.

_"what?!"_ He nodded his head and closed his eyes, he could still feel her hands gripping his shirt, her lips on his... _"How did that happen?"_

"It was for a play" he said, and she grunted.

_"it was a fake kiss? You sound like a desperate thirteen year old boy"_ He laid down on the grass.

"No it wasn't like that" he inhaled "she...she gripped my shirt and..."

_"Aw, you are a thirteen year old boy!" _

"No, it wasn't like that ok, I'm telling you! It had nothing do to with shaking hands!"

_"...shaking hands?"_ Pixie asked, but Beck didn't hear he question him, he was to involved trying to tell her about what had just happened.

"She was so nervous before, she didn't wanted to do it and yeah I thought maybe it was because she was grossed out or something but then, when we actually kissed she didn't want to let go and if it hadn't been for that stupid Shawn..."

"Now you're starting to sound like a thirteen year old girl" Pixie sat up, rubbing her eyes as he, once again, ignored her sarcastic commentary, and continued to talk about Tori. She noticed how different he sounded, like he was in love... She thought about the times they had confessed their love to each other, and how colder he sounded back then. She thought that was just the way he was, like he could never give himself entirely to someone, but now, she began to think it was just because he was with the wrong girl. And it hurt her to think that she was the wrong one. "You're right, if she actually did what you're saying she did, big chance is that she likes you"

Beck smiled, sitting back up as some freshmen girl with blonde pigtails snapped a picture of him, thinking he wasn't going to notice. He did, but he was getting used to that stuff, he was even starting to like it. "what should I do?"

"You're Beck Oliver" Pixie answered "You always know what to do" she yawned "I'm going back to sleep mate, go try and get the girl" she hung up. Beck got up, and started to walk back to the auditorium, thinking about what he should do or say. But he knew that when it came to it, even if he rehearsed every single word he was going to say, things would just go completely different.

As he got closer, things started to get clearer. He wanted to be with Tori, he had been wanting to be with Tori since he stepped on this school, and to him, and like he had promised himself four years ago, he wasn't going to let her go, he wasn't going to be the same guy he was back then. He had another cigarette in his hand that he intended to light up, when he was nervous he would just smoke one after another, but halfway through the course he forgot what he was going to do, he forgot everything, except for the girl he was going to see.

Tori wasn't on stage, so headed to the backstage. He walked over to one side it, she wasn't there, he walked to the other... To see her in the arms of another guy.

He turned around, rushing out of the auditorium with all the unanswered questions rushing back to his mind. He light up that cigarette, grabbed his phone and headed to his dorm. He inhaled one more time before throwing away the cigarette. _"Bloody hell! Aren't you going to let me sleep?"_ He got his keys and got inside, glad to see he was alone. "why are you so quiet?"

"We were wrong" He laid down in his bed, putting his phone on speaker and his hands under his head. "Terribly wrong... crap..." he thought, why was it always her? Why did he kept thinking she liked him, that she'd give him a chance? "In fact, I just saw how wrong with were a minute ago, when she had her tongue down Ryder fucking Daniel's throat"

_"you alright?"_ He kicked off his shoes and rubbed his eyes, still not wanting to believe that he had let himself be that vulnerable. There had been two times in his life, he thought, two times when he was disappointed by a girl both which revolved around Tori, and he hated that. So much.

"Of course I'm not alright, I let myself believe she was into me when she clearly wasn't"

_"You don't know that"_ Pixie gave up, she didn't want to help him be with another girl. She didn't even like to imagine him with another girl, but the only thing worse than that to her was stand there, and listen to his suffering, without doing anything to stop it. _"Of course she wasn't going to break up with that guy right away, after all it was stage kissing"_

"No but..." He tried to argue with her, but she cut him off, and he sat back up.

_"Just listen to me, you have to talk to her off stage"_ She yawned_ "otherwise she won't think it was real, wait until her boyfriend isn't there and tell her how you feel"_

"I'm not going to do that" She rolled her eyes, mad at him for calling her, and not taking her advice. "I'm not going to..."

_"Fine! Don't do that, you don't want to open yourself too much, fine!"_ She smirked, she was kind of glad that he also wasn't too forward with his feelings for Tori. _"Be what you are best, a flirt, you flirt and act... Well, kind of like how you used to act with me"_ she sighed, as Beck started to pick up on the jealousy, suddenly feeling bad for taking about Tori so much, when Pixie still had feelings for him.

"Pixie, you know I love you right?"

She yawned again, with a sad smile of her face. "I know" he lied back down._ "You just don't love me like you love her" _

"I don't love he-"

_"Go figure your feelings out, I have a date with my pillow now, goodnight"_

* * *

Tori stood at her side of the backstage, still too shocked to react at, not only what had just happened, but at the sudden feelings that had rushed back to her. "What a show" Her eyes widen, as she turned around, she couldn't fake a smile. "I've never seen you kiss Shawn like that"

She didn't know what to say. He almost never watched he rehearse, and from the couple of times he actually watched, it had to be today. She shook her head looking for a plausible answer, putting aside whatever unresolved feelings she had for Beck. "I...I was acting" She answered, since it was the most obvious thing to come to her mind. But she knew, everyone that had seen it knew, that it was nothing like her previous kisses with Shawn. "He's Shawn's understudy!"

"I wonder why!" He shot back. Ryder had gotten out of the campus earlier to surprise her, only to walk in and see her running into the arms of that guy. He knew it in his gut that he had reasons not to like him, '_very good friends my ass'_ he thought.

"Don't yell at me!" Tori leaned against the wall with her hands covering her face. This was their first real fight, she thought, and they sure started with a bang.

"I'm not...!" he breathed out, as she bit her bottom lip to keep her from bursting into tears. She couldn't handle fighting with him, specially when he looked so mad. Ryder took a step closer, trying to calm her down enough so she wouldn't start crying. "I'm not yelling, I just want you to stay away from that guy"

He tried to get closer but she walked away from him, standing in front of the wall. He stepped in front of her. "Why are you acting all alpha male on me all of a sudden?"

He looked at her, her eyes were wet, but it didn't make any difference to him. He just wanted to keep her away from Beck, he wasn't usually jealous because he honestly didn't think there was any guy that really was a threat, but Beck just go to all of his nerves. He looked past her, and saw someone coming their way, not just someone, the guy he currently hated the most, and Ryder was not going to let him walk in on them while having a fight.

He got closer to Tori, grabbed her by her hips and kissed her deeply, without even giving her time to process what was going on. "Ryder!" she pushed him away, but his mission succeed. Beck was no longer there, and Tori hadn't seen him. "what was that?!"

The way she pushed him away light him on fire again, specially when he began to feel the after taste in his mouth. "I wanted to see if you were tasting like him" he said, dryly. He walked past her, and turned around, spitting on a trash can. "I hate cigarettes"

"Ryder..." she begged.

"If you want, I'll be waiting in the car" he turned around and walked away, before Sikowitz began to yelled, telling everyone to get back on stage.

* * *

"I still can't believe Beck and..." Beck looked over at the door, as Andre and Robbie stepped inside. "Oh hey!" Robbie chuckled awkwardly, before he continued to talk "We weren't talking about you, just so you know!" He sat down in his bed, with a nervous smile.

"Nice one" Andre told him, as he opened the fridge and took out a can of soda. But Beck was thankful for Robbie's gossip, now he was sure that he hadn't made it all up in his mind.

"So, how was the rest of the practice?" Beck asked Andre, who had heard Ryder's and Tori's fight, and then saw her pretending that nothing had happened, and that was never good. He knew his best friend well enough to know that whenever she behaved like that, it was because she was hiding something, specially when that something involved a guy she used to be crazy about. He cared about her, and he wasn't going to stand around and let her get hurt.

"And by practice I think you mean Tori?"

Beck ran his fingers through his hair, and looked away from his roommate. "was it that obvious?"

"Ask that to Ryder, I heard them arguing" Beck looked back at him, trying not to get his hopes up since he knew he couldn't trust himself when the issue was Tori, but still, if Ryder was there he had probably seen the whole thing... But then again, he wondered, why would they be kissing right afterwards?

"where is she now?" Beck asked, and Robbie raised his hand as if he wanted to talk in class.

"I saw her getting into his car" Beck punched his bed, and got up grabbing his pack of cigarettes just by habit._ 'She went away with him, if he liked me she would've stayed...'_ He started walking outside, grunting with every breath, he didn't even realize he had company until he looked back, realizing he had forgotten his lighter.

"I can't get a break!" he said, stopping in front of Robbie, that for some reason seemed to follow him a lot. He sat down on the floor, with the unlit cigarette between his fingers, and a strange buzzing in his head. Robbie sat down next to him, and crossed his legs, slightly rocking back and forth.

"Did you know you spend one thousand, eight hundred and twenty five dollars with cigarettes a year" Robbie began, whenever he felt things were awkward, he felt the need to talk until it was gone. "that is if you smoke a pack a day, but since you just opened a new pack I guess this is your second? So you ca..."

"that much money?" Beck hated when Robbie talked to much, but for the first time he was enjoying it, it helped him fill his mind with useless things, and keep him from thinking about the real problem.

"Yeah, and that's just the monetary part, but imagine the, let's say, five minutes you take to smoke a cigarette multiplied by a pack and then per year... You waste a lot of good hours smoking too..."

Beck lied down on the grass, and stared at the cigarette in his hand, as Robbie kept talking about his addiction. Beck took out the whole package from his pocket, and started to think he was going crazy, because for the first time in a long time, he thought about quitting. All of his friends back in England smoked, and he started just so he wouldn't feel left out, but in this school he felt the opposite way. And he really was spending too much money on it, he had been trying to save up for a guitar, but the only way he was able to do that was if he tried to smoke the least cigarettes possible on a week, to save a couple of bucks. It wasn't paying off.

And like he did, four years ago, he decided to get his life back on track, to get the things he wanted, even if it wasn't going to be easy. And just like that, he threw his last pack of cigarettes in the trash, and walked away without looking back.

* * *

A/N: Hello guys! Thank you so much for all of the reviews on the last chap, you guys make me so happy! I'm really looking forward to see** your thoughts** on this one, love,

- Kiribati


	7. Chapter 7

Tori stood in silence, in front of Ryder's car "I'll call you'' he said, with a straight face and she forced a half smile, waving as he drove away. She had just had the worst Friday. After her yelling match with Ryder during rehearsals, that she came later to know that made Cat pass out and Robbie cry, she waited for Beck. She rehearsed, but she was only half there, always trying to see if he would come back for her. She wasn't even sure why she wanted him to go back to her so much, until he didn't, and she realized... _'It doesn't matter, he didn't show up'_ she thought, so went back to Ryder. Which turned out to be an even worse choice, because they spent the whole night fighting. He told her to stop talking to Beck, and she told him to shove it. So they went to sleep, and he brought her back to campus first thing in the morning, it was a silent ride with nothing but an 'I'll call you'. Tori didn't know where they stood now... All because of a stage kiss, at least to Beck, she thought. And if Beck didn't feel about her the way she did for him, she would never admit that she had done anything but act that day.

She felt awful, for various reasons, some that weren't even her fault. The fact that she was the one who forced her tongue inside Beck's mouth was the main one of them. He was just standing there and _she _was the one who deepened it, _she_ was the one who sort of cheated on her boyfriend. And now she had her head down, walking back to her dorm with all eyes on her. Everyone wondered why school's most popular girl, that was always so happy and cheerful looked like that. Of course all of those who had heard her argument with Ryder, or heard about the fight knew why. Just the fact that she was in school on a Saturday was already a big indicator that something was wrong.

"...Hey..." she said, as she walked inside her room and threw herself on the couch, without even noticing the shocked look on her roommates faces.

"You're back early" Jade said, and Cat looked at Tori, that still hadn't moved from the couch, with concerned eyes. "Is Ryder mad?"

"furious" Tori sighed, staring at the ceiling. "he wants me to stop talking to Beck"

"that's absurd" Cat added, when Jade got up from her bed, and began to walk around. Tori focused on the noise Jade's heels made, clacking on the ground.

"I don't think that's absurd at all" Jade said, and both girls turned their heads at her. "you did cheat on him"

"what?!" Tori sat up "We were acting! The script specifically told us, and I quote, passionately kiss!"

"and you make damn sure to take advantage of that, didn't you?" Tori got up, wordless. She had already gone at it with Ryder for hours, why was Jade nagging on her too? Tori ran her fingers through her hair and looked around, trying to blow off some steam.

"why are you do made about this? You should be my friend!"

"Because I am!" Jade grunted, tilting her chin up, with her hands on either sides of her hips. "You have to start taking responsibilities for your actions instead of feeling sorry for yourself!" she stood still, as Tori looked at her, then at Cat, who had her hands over he years and sang loudly, and walked out the door. She couldn't understand what had just happened, but she also didn't want to think about it.

She kept walking too caught up in her angry thoughts to notice the person standing in front of her, until she walked right into him. "Whoa! Tori!" Andre held her by her shoulders, and took a step back, giving her space to straighten herself up. "Robbie and I saw you coming back, so I came looking for you"

"What is it?" She asked dryly, she wasn't in the mood to be nice.

And raised his eyebrows at her, he wasn't used to seeing Tori liked this, but he understood where she was coming from. "It's Beck, he's dying"

* * *

Tori stood in front of the door, his door. Her hands were shut in fist, as she trying weather or not she should talk to him. She didn't want to think about he many bad ways he could react, she didn't know if he hand felt the kiss like she did, though the fact that he hand't shown up was a big indicator, she didn't know... Hell, she didn't know anything really. _'I might as well go in and find out'._

She knocked on the door, and heard him grunting which made her heart race. She bit her bottom lip before the door opened, when she saw him. "Tori?" Her chin dropped, leaving her mouth agape. He was pale, he didn't smell like cigarettes, and his hair was up in a bun. She had been studying with him for almost three months, and never once she had seen his hair up. She was shocked, but it was more than the hair, it was the fact that he looked vulnerable. To her, he looked like his past self, before he had moved to England, and before she had met Ryder. When he was the only one.

"Andre told me you were dying" she said "now, I believe him" He took a step back and let her in. A lot had happened to him in pat twenty four hours, and even though Tori was the girl he wanted to impress, and that he was very aware that looked crap, there was only one thought in mind: cigarettes. "I'm proud of you though"

He laid down in his bed, coughing so much that felt as if his lungs were coming out. "It hasn't been an easy day" She sat down next to him, and he took a good look at her. Only then processing the fact that it was a Saturday, and that she was at school for the first time in the year, and that her eyes were puffy and hr neck was clear. He felt joy, she might not admit her feelings for him but at least their kiss did some damage to Ryder's and hers relationship. "Why are you here on a Saturday?"

She rested her arm on the wooden bed frame, looking down at him. "I don't wanna talk about it" She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, to cut off the tension she was feeling, if they stayed in silence she might start talking, and even though she wanted to be with him and help him stop smoking, she didn't want to say too much, and risk losing his friendship. _'He didn't come after me'_, she reminded herself. "Why did you quit smoking?"

He also sat up, taking the remote out of her hands. "I don't wanna talk about it" He didn't have a solid reason to tell her, but he sure wasn't going to start talking, and end up somewhat in the lines of 'because of you'. She might be here today, he thought, but a few hours ago she was kissing Ryder. "What do you want to watch?"

"You choose, I don't feel like thinking" She rested her back on the frame, next to him, their arms slightly brushing against each others. She felt shivers on her skin, and even though she knew it was wrong, she didn't move.

"Whenever I start to think my mind goes straight to smoking" He added, handing her back the remote. "Just choose something that doesn't involve cigarettes"

_'Or love triangles...'_ She sigh again, it seemed like she had been doing that all day. "How about this random Action movie, that seems to have lots and lots of explosions?"

"Perfect" she put the remote down, as the movie began.

Beck looked down at her, and sank onto the bed, his head now at the same level as hers. Their faces so close that he noticed the eyeliner stains down her cheek. He was about to say something, when she lowered her head onto his shoulder, and he froze. He shouldn't be freezing, he wasn't fourteen anymore, he hand't froze in ages! He didn't even froze when he was with Pixie for the first time he...

He thought about Pixie, and about what she said. It didn't matter how he behaved with other girls, how he could be overconfident and even a little bit cocky sometimes, because none of them were Tori. He was a big flirt because he was always in control of the situation, and himself but not with her, for one simple reason. '_You just don't love me like you love her' _He played the line in his head, allowing himself to rest his head over hers sinking even lower. He froze just like he was fourteen, because he felt the same way, he loved her, and he didn't know what to do.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! So sorry it took me this long to uptade, but finals week are coming and I have to focus on my studies! Thank you so much for those of you who are reviewing, reading and enjoying this story!** Please review this one**, love,

- Kiribati


	8. Chapter 8

Jade grabbed her pillow, and pressed it against her face, and shut her eyes hard, but she couldn't fall asleep. Unless the room was completely dark, which meant no lamps, no sunlight, TV or Pearpad, Jade couldn't fall asleep. And that rule went also for her annoying roommate, who was texting at two AM before the opening night of their play, which made her furious. She threw her pillow aside, and sat up. "Who are you talking to, at TWO IN MORNING?!" Tori looked away from her phone, with a shy smile that turned into a frightened frown as she saw the look on Jade's face. She had angry eyes, I-will-stab-you kind of angry. Tori kept quiet, knowing that her answer would only bring out more rage.

"Is it Ryder?" Cat asked, with a sleepy voice. She was a light sleeper, even a simple finger snap could wake her up, but she also had the talent to fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

"I'm still not talking to him" Tori answered, when her phone vibrated again.

"did you break up?" Cat asked, not so sleepy anymore. Her curiosity always got the best of her, and her sleep.

"No" was the simple answer Tori gave her, taking a deep breath before finishing her sentence. "I'm talking to... Beck"

"Oh for gods sake!" Jade threw a pillow at her, grunting loudly. But instead of lecturing, like Tori thought she would've done, about how obviously in love she was with him, which she still disagreed. Jade pointed at the door. "The guy lives across the square! Stop sexting and just make out with him already!"

"I thought you said..." Tori began, trying to think of a witty comeback, but as usual, was cut off by Jade.

"I DON'T CARE! Just let me sleep, we have a play tomorrow!" She threw another pillow at Tori, Jade kept over ten pillows in her bed, to be able to throw and possibly hurt at least a couple of people on situations like these. "GOD VEGA! I still don't know how you god the main part..." She grunted one last time, and Tori got undercover, going back to her phone.

_From: Tori V_  
_To: Beck O_

_Jade is threatening me, I really have to go :(_

She placed her phone next to her head on the pillow and sigh, looking up at the top bunk, when her phone vibrated again.

_From: Beck O_  
_To: Tori V_

_Texting doens't make any noise, and plush I'm not sleepy at all. Tell her to put on a sleep mask or something_

Tori looked at Jade, who she could tell was still awake, and tried to block some of the light out with her pillow.

_Form: Tori V_  
_To: Beck O_

_She hates the light, it's really annoying. I'm not sleepy either, but I'm actually afraid that she'll kill me, you know how Jade is._

Tori held her phone, smiling, every time she talked to him she'd be like this. She didn't even tried to hide it anymore, she would only deny it when pointed out at her.

_From: Beck O_  
_To: Tori V_

_Ok, I'm going out for a walk, wanna join?_

She finished reading the text, and didn't stop to think twice before putting on her all-stars, and heading out the door. In fact, she left so fast, she didn't even realize she was wearing blue set of pajamas, with yellow ducks on it, until she saw the expression on Beck's face. "This is just adorable" He said, as he watched her walk out of the girls dorm.

"What is?" She asked, and he looked down at her, and she did the same. Her cheeks flushed red, which made him think she looked even more adorable. "alright... No need for mocking me"

"I'm not, you look cute" he said, pouting his lips and making the same face he does when talking to puppies.

"Shut up" she answered, punching him slightly in the arm, as they begun to walk. "So..." she said, not knowing what to talk about. She felt like they had ran out of topics while texting, but she really would rather be waking in silence with him, then lying awake in her bed, thinking about how she'd rather be hanging together. "Where are we going?"

"nowhere" He answered, walking ahead of her and turning around, starting to walk backwards so that he could look at her. "I just feel like walking"

"Well alright" she said, and he turned back, slowing down his pace, now walking side by side to her. "So, excited to go home for thanksgiving next weekend?" They kept walking, the campus was silent apart from a few seniors that would eventually pass by.

"Not going home this year" He said, which surprised her. Tori was used to being left alone one campus during thanksgiving, since her parent would always travel to some random tropical country, and her sister, Trina, would stay at the college campus. So to know that she would have company was a good surprise, specially because it was him. "I made a deal with my parents to stay in the campus to stay in campus save the money they would spend on my plane ticket, and on winter break I'm gonna go to England"

"oh" Tori said, crossing her arms to try and resist the cold. "I guess we're going to have to make our own thanksgiving dinner"

"I was thinking some Thai food, maybe Italian" she chuckled, and started to walk on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Or we could at least eat a turkey sandwich" He shrugged, and looked down at her.

"You cold?" he asked, and she nodded her head, not wanting to trouble him. But he could see that she was shivering.

"I'm fine" she tighten her arms, and he stopped walking to take his sweater off, offering it to her.

"You're shivering"

"No, I'm just...Excited...for the play tomorrow?" He offered it to her again, and she rolled her eyes. "fine" She took it from his hand, and started to walk again, while she put it on. It was a those large wool sweaters, and it was twice her size, going to her knees. She breathed in, now a lot more comfortable, and caught the scent coming from it. She couldn't describe it, it was a mix of shampoo and cologne and cigarettes. It was Beck's scent, she felt shivers on her spine. "thank you"

"It's fine" he said "I'm used to colder weather"

"right" 'Becaue you used to live in England and probably stayed out with Pixie all the time' she thought. She shook the thoughts out of her mind. Reminding herself that she shouldn't be jealous.

"I heard some guys are throwing a party after the play tomorrow"

"We have it every year" She answered, happy to get her mind out of Beck "it's the only cool thing that happens in this place"

"So I figure you're gonna go" She nodded, as the got back to the square that separated the two dorms. She walked over to a bench and sat on it, crossing her legs. "Is Ryder coming?"

He sat down beside her, and ran his fingers through his hair. "No, I still haven't talked to him"

"How are you guys?" He asked, looking at her, trying and failing at reading her emotions. "You broke up?"

"I don't know" her voice broke, and she carried a sad smile on her face. "It's weird you know?" she glanced at him, her straight hair falling onto her face but she didn't even notice. She was already to wrapped up around her own thoughts. "I thought I had it all figured out. Study at Berkeley, move in with Ryder and...well..."

"We're too young to think that far Tor" he said, ad she sighed, looking down at the floor.

"I know, I know" she sat back at the bench and threw her head back, now looking up at the sky. "But I liked to think that if I planned it, things would eventually work out that way, it's the girl thing. We know how life goes, but always want to believe that we're going to get our romantic comedy ending" She yawned, and he thought about the words she had just said. "I'm sorry, I'm stupid"

"No, you're not" He put his arm around her, rubbing his hand against her arm. "You're not" He kissed the side of her head, and she yawned again, shutting her eyes and feeling warm and comfortable, not because of the sweater. And than she realized, she was too comfortable. She got up.

"I should go to bed" She yawned again, and he stood in front of her. "I guess...good night" She began to walk away, when he called her back.

"Hey Tor!" She look behind her shoulder, and he had a grin on his face "You look adorable in those pajamas"

"Shut up" she said, before he nodded his head, and they both went back to their rooms.

* * *

Sikowitz ran around, making sure that everything was perfect and ready for the play to begin. Even though it was still four o'clock, and the play was only going to start at seven. "Where's Tori?" He yelled, and she jumped awake from the dark corner she had been sleeping in, and ran to the stage.

"I'm here" The teacher sigh in relieve, and took a long sip of his coconut juice. "Perfect! Now, where's Shawn?" Everyone waited for the male lead the appear, and when he didn't everyone began to look around, no surprise, he wasn't there.

"He's not here" Robbie said, and Sikowitz let out a high pitch, suffered moan.

"Then someone please, go find him!" Everyone stood still, surprised by the teacher's tone of voice. "ROBBIE!" He ran out, and Sikowitz threw himself in one of the front seats. "Tori, go get Beck" She nodded, and rushed out of the auditorium, feeling her heartbeat race as she got closer to his door. 'Shawn is missing again!' she thought, secretly hoping that he'd remain missing until the play ended. She stopped in front of his door, and knocked on it with a nervous smile on her face.

"Hey Tor... Shouldn't you be getting ready or something?"

"Shawn is missing" His eyes widen as he heard her words. "Sikowitz wants to take his place"

"He is?" She nodded her head, and Beck scratched the back of his neck, trying to seem to be cool with all of this, and trying to hide his excitement. "Then I guess I should go"

"You really should" she said, and he walked out, shutting the door behind him. They walked side by side, rushing to the auditorium, both their hearts raced as they exchanged shy looks, filled with hope and lust. But they were too worried about hiding their feelings, they didn't even notice that they felt the exact same thing. "I have Beck" Tori said, as they walked in the auditorium, and Sikowitz rushed towards them, grabbing Beck by his arm.

"Oh thank coconut juice! Let me find you the costume..." he began, walking away and pulling Beck with him.

"see you on stage!" She yelled, and Beck looked back with a half smile on his face, nodding his head.

"See you on stage, Cecilia";

She turned around, her cheeks red like two apples, partially because of the blush she had applied earlier, but mostly because of the fact that Beck was taking Shawn's place. She made her way to get some coffee before the show. And as she stood in line, she realized that she wasn't sleepy anymore. Just the thought of kissing him woke her up, she was ready to go. For all she cared, she could start the play right now.

Those next couple of hours flew by. Beck ran his lines, which he didn't find too hard to remember, even though he got distracted very easily, just by thinking that he was going to get a free pass to be with Tori again. "Heey" He looked up, and saw the girl he was just thinking about, in full costume. She was in a very tight purple dress, with knee high, black all-stars and had very long extensions in her hair, that went until her lower back. But he didn't even notice, he could only focus on her lips. "Nervous about your debut on theater?"

She sat down on the floor, beside him, watching the producers and other cast and crew members run around, trying to get ready as fast as possible. "Not really" he said, even though he secretly was, not about the play itself, of course.

"OH DEAR COCONUT JUICE!" They both got up, and ran to the stage, too see what was going on. "WHERE WERE YOU?!"

Tori let out a sigh of disappointment, as the one guy she really hoped she wouldn't see, walked in the auditorium. "...Shawn?" Beck said, before Shawn began to apologize, but was cut off when Sikowitz grabbed his arm and Beck's, and told him to go get ready, and that Beck was free to go back to his dorm. He looked down at Tori, who had a straight look on her face. He rested his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him, without saying a word.

"Dude gimme your clothes" Shawn said, stepping in between them. Now Beck was sure, that he really hated that guy.

"Yeah...sure" Beck answered, as he began to walk away.

"You're staying, right?" Tori said, walking after him as they stopped before getting to the guy's dressing room. "After all, you are my lucky charm"

"I'll be right behind you" he said, pointing at the backstage, and she nodded with a smile, walking away.

* * *

"Let's drink, because the play was freaking sweet!" Andre yelled, and everyone at the party took a shot.

"Let's drink because the principle has no idea a bunch of teens are getting drunk right under his nose!" A random dude yelled, and this time, everyone cheered back before pouring themselves another shot, and taking it.

Tori laughed, and Beck grabbed another bottle of tequila, and waiting for someone to yell sometime, before he poured it to all of his friends. He was happily surprised to find out that the party was actually cool. Turs out one of the duties of the crew members are to plan an epic party, which meant a lot of booze, and paying off the nurse to keep her mouth closed, when getting a bunch of passed out teens.

"Let's drink because I rocked it!" Jade yelled, and everyone took another. This ritual kept going for about two or three more shots, and after that people were either too drunk to yell, or just too lazy to do so. Cat grabbed an empty beer bottle, and walked to the center of the basement, where the party was being held.

"Who wants to play seven minutes in anywhere you can find?!" She yelled, and all of those who could understand her words raised their glasses and bottles, and gathered around, sitting down in a circle.

"what's that?" Beck asked, dragging his voice, which made Tori laugh, because she never thought she'd see him drunk. And she loved how funny and awkward he looked now that he was, the complete opposite of how he acted when he was sober. His drunk self looked a lot like him, four years ago. That made her laugh even more.

"It's just like seven minutes in heaven!" she yelled, just because she felt like it "only you don't make out in a closet, and more people can do it at the same time!" She looked at the circle, and at the bottle spinning in the middle of it, tilting her head at Beck "what the hell right?" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the circle. For some reason that made her laugh even more. He followed her, without thinking too much. And sat right across from her, between Jade a random guy.

The bottle spun, couples left and couples came back, more shots were taken. Beck was beginning to think that the only thing he was going to make out with, was his bottle of Tequila. He looked up, staring at Tori, that just like him, hadn't yet gotten out of the circle. He was not only relieved, but also hopeful, maybe the bottle would do her magic, and put them together.

And she did.

Tori finished a bottle of Vodka she took from Cat, they liked to say that after a while, Vodka tasted like love. So what did she care that Ryder was mad at her and that, even though she liked... Maybe even more than like him... She had her drink. She giggled at her own thoughts, and grabbing the bottle in the center, and spinning it herself this time. The bottle stopped, and she looked at one end, that was point at her... Her heart stopped for a second, before she looked at the other end, and a smile spread on her face.

"Beck!" She said, and he squinted his eyes, as if he hand't seen clearly. "Yay!"

"Yay indeed" he answered, a bit confused about, well, just about everything, that was the effect alcohol usually had on him. "Shall we?" he asked, and she got up, stumbling onto her own feet, and he followed. They moved away from the circle, and she put her arm around his as support to help her stand straight.

"Where are we going?" He asked, as they walked up the stairs, and out of the basement. He ran his fingers through his hair, before Tori lost her balance and almost fell down. He caught her by her waste, and kept his arm around it, while playing with her hair with the other hand.

"Nowhere" She answered, and he burst into laughter.

"That's what I said to you, yesterday!" He said, in excitement, and continued to laugh. And she did too, until she stopped, and put a straight face on.

"Yesterday!" She said, a little bit too loud. "I forgot to give you your sweater back!" She brought her hands up to her forehead, like she had committed a terrible crime. "We should go get it, c'mon, I'll race you!" She broke free from him, and began to run, but before he could even think about chasing her, she fell on ground, and started to hysterically laugh.

He rushed over to her, looking down. "You ok?!" She nodded her head, still laughing, as she reached for his hand to help her up. She put her arm around his torso, as they walked back to the girl's dorm, stopping in front of her door.

"You have to be quiet" she whispered "because Cat and Jade are still sleeping"

"No they aren't" he whispered back "they're still at the party"

"...right" She said, taking her keys out of her pocket, and trying to open the door. But she could have sworn that the keyhole was moving.

"let me try" he said, right when she finally opened it, and walked inside.

"now, where's you sweater?" She looked around, and spotted it in her bed, but whatever reason, she ignored it.

"Why did we leave the party again?" Beck asked, with a sudden feeling that he wanted to dance. And if he was still at the party, there would be music, and he would've been able to dance.

"I don't remember" She answered him, sitting down in her bed, over the sweater. He sat down beside her, slightly rocking his head back and forth, as if he was listening to music. "Oh! right!" she snapped her fingers "We left because we're playing seven minutes in anywhere we can find!"

"So we should make out?" he asked, and she put her arm around his shoulders.

"We should" He looked down at her, and rested his hand on her neck, leaning in, but stopped a few inches away from her "Remember four years ago... you were so scared of kissing me"

She brought the hand that was on his shoulder up to his hair, and her legs over his lap. "I was frightened" he admitted, and she chuckled softly, as he tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "I still am" She held her breath, feeling his nose brush against hers, and how his lips were part opened...

"I'm..." she tried to speak, now looking at his eyes and how he also could help but stare at hers. "this is crazy" she said, before his arm tightened around her back, and she let go of her weight, lying down in her bed, under him, wrapped in his arms. They were as close as they could get, except for their lips, that remained apart. He looked down at her, running his index finger on her forehead, brushing the hair away from her face. She raised her arm, putting it around his neck, pulling him down to her.

"Crazy good" he said. Before she crashed his lips onto his, and she kissed him back, doing everything to save her breath, and keep it up as long as she could. His hand running down her body, her hands up his chest, their tongues moving in every way they could imagine, both of them wanting to enjoy this moment for as much time as they could. Tori pulled away in the need for air, and her head rested on her pillow.

"Wait I have to say something" she began, taking a deep breath, and he kissed her cheek "It's just that, I..." She yawned, and before she could finish her sentence, she fell asleep.

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**A/N:** Hello! Please don't hate me, I know I took way too long to upload, but I've been going through a rough path and the last thing I was able to do was writing! I'm so sorry but this one is very long, so I hope it makes up for it!** Please review, I'd love to know what you guys thought about this one**, and also my story Fix Me is back so it'd be cool if you checked it out! Love,

- Kiribati


	9. Chapter 9

Tori woke up, feeling a weird vibration on her leg, and an awful ache, that made her want to take her brain out for a few hours. She could feel the hangover getting worse by the second, her body felt heavy to her, and the weird vibrating only made it worse. She opened her eyes, thanking Jade for keeping the blinds shut, and stared at the top bunk for a few seconds, trying to remember what had happened the previous night. She brought her hands up to her forehead, squinting her eyes when the pain began to get worse. If Tori hated one thing, it was hangovers, she'd always promise herself never to drink again in the morning after, but still hadn't been able to go keep it.

Her leg vibrated again, and she sat up to try and figure out what it was, but when she looked down, finding out that she wasn't alone, the vibration was the last thing on her mind. "Holy shit..." She said to herself, as she saw a passed out Beck, fully clothed, which made her somewhat more relieved, but still, there was only one thought going through her mind_. 'What the hell did I do last night?!'_

She stared at him for a few seconds, when her leg began to vibrate again, and she finally looked at it, to find out it was her phone. She didn't know whether it was appropriate for her to answer it or not, since she knew the worse part about a hangover was waking up, that is assuming he had also drank with her. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it away from her face, and decided to get up, and just leave him sleeping. She took her phone out of her pocket, and saw that she had two missed calls, from the same user: Ryder.

She walked over to one corner of the room, next to Jade's things, and pressed answer. She had been dying for him to call her, to say anything, and now that he had... She didn't how to feel. "Ryder?" She tried to keep her voice as low as possible, not wanting to wake her best friend up.

"Cheekbones, baby" She frowned, hearing her nickname. They spent a week completely ignoring each other's existence, and now he called her as if nothing had happened? "can you talk?" I look back at Beck, who's still sleeping like a rock, while I just keep finding more questions I have no answers to.

"Yeah, of course" She paced around, as flashes of the previous night started to go back to her. She remembered a lot of yelling, and tequila, but so far that was it.

"Then come out of your dorm, I'm right outside" Her eyes widen, as she heard him, he was outside, and she had no idea what to do. She peeked through the window, and caught a glimpse of his car, shutting the blinds as fast as she could, leaning against the wall. "Cheekbones, you there?"

"Yeah!" she said, looking around nervously, trying to find a way not to seem so hungover. "I'll be right out, just give me five minutes!" she hung up, and ran to her closet, trying to find clothes that didn't smell like a mix of alcohol and sweat, changing into a tight zebra dress, without even thinking about the fact that Beck was a few meters away. She had more important things to worry about, than what she might have, and not have done with Beck the previous night. She fixed her make up the quickest way she could, and put her hair up in a ponytail, threw a couple of mints into her mouth, and walked out.

"I miss you Cheekbones" Was the first thing he said, leaning against his car in his usual white v-neck and leather Jacker. She forced a smile, considering the sun only made things worse, but she knew that him showing up was an apology, mostly because he didn't bring up the fact that she obviously looked really hungover. She walked over to him, stopping a few inches away.

She stood there in silence, not knowing what to say, partly because she didn't know if she was actually still mad at him for their fight, but mostly because at that very second there was another guy in her bed. The guy that started all the problems between the two of them. "Yeah, I.. I missed you too" was the only thing she was able to say, because no matter the circumstances, she was still dating Ryder. He was still her boyfriend he had been her boyfriend for a long time, and yes, they had had a fight, but she still loved him, and Beck... Beck was chance, but she was too scared of being alone to take it.

"I'm so sorry I missed your play last night" He took a step forward and kissed her kissed, pulling her towards him by her lower back. "Are you ok?" He asked, finally noticing her state. She nodded her head, but soon stopped as the pain began to get worse.

"I'm fine, just have a massive hangover" He nodded his head, running his fingers through her hair, brushing them away from her face. Tori looked up into his eyes, and the flashes that had been coming back into her mind gathered as one, and she remembered, everything._ "Oh no..."_ She thought out loud, forgetting about the guy standing in front her.

"What's wrong Cheekbones?" She shot her head up, not being able to focus on good enough of an answer. She looked behind her, and saw her group of friends, and than at center, where Beck stood with a straight face, as he ran his hand through his hair and looked at her. It was a split of a second moment, that for Tori felt like hours of torture.

"Nothing, my head is...killing me" She said, taking a few steps back and bringing her hands up to her temples, not wanting to deal with what she had done, and what she had to do about it. She looked back at Beck, and then heard Ryder's car door opening, and took a deep breath, deciding to do what she did best, pretended she didn't remember a thing. She turned around and opened a fake smile, looking at her friends and waving, but avoiding any eye contact with Beck, being too afraid of what she might feel or see. And just like that, she got into his car.

Beck opened his eyes when her heard a door banging, and before he could process the fact that he felt as if his head was going to explode, he jumped out of bed, not his bed, Tori's bed. His thoughts were running through his mind, trying to place the pieces together and remember exactly what had happened. And when he looked back at her bed, and saw his sweater on the floor, he remembered the whole thing.

He was happy for a few seconds, thinking that everything had fallen into place, when he realized she wasn't there. He didn't want to think too much, knowing that would only make the ache in his had worse, so he straightened himself up, and left the room. As he walked down the hallways he could feel all eyes on him, it wasn't usual for a guy to sleep in the girls dorm, specially when that guy was Beck Oliver, leaving Tori Vega's room.

He ran his fingers through his hair, ignoring the freshmen girls who would whisper and giggle and he passed by. And walked out squinting his eyes from the sun, when someone stepped in front of him. "How was your night sleeping beauty" Jade said, and he looked at her, and then at the rest of his group who all had shades on, and were suffering from a hangover just as much as him. Except for Jade, she always knew when to stop drinking, so she wouldn't end up doing something stupid.

"Jade let the him..." Andre began, but was cut off by one of her classic threading looks. But before she could even begin, Beck turned around, with a new rule for himself, always go the opposite way from Jade. He took a step forward, but his eyes caught something he wished he hadn't seen. Tori in Ryder's arms.

He stared at them, as she glanced back at him and without hesitation, got into her boyfriend's car. He looked down, scratching the Beck of his neck, and continued to walk away, without daring to look at the car driving away. He felt the weight of his head getting even heavier, and the deep craving to smoke wasn't helping either. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked down to find Cat by his side "Are you okay?" He ran his fingers through his hair, and nodded, but she ignored him, pulling him into a hug.

"Thanks Cat, but I'm fine" She let go of him, and he continued to aimlessly walk, until he got to the campus park, and lied down in the world's biggest chair, trying to figure out what he was going to do.

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A/N: Hey guys! Quick uptade, but I plan on posting as many chapter as I can until the 25th, and after that I'll travel so I'll probably spent a two weeks without an upload since school will start again and all that. Love you all,

- Kiribati


	10. Chapter 10

Professor Gilmore had told the class to do some exercises while he went outside to drink some water, and by water he meant smoking. She looked over the shoulder or Beck, who was sitting in front of her, and just like her he wasn't doing the work assigned by teacher, instead he was drawing a girl. Tori sank back into her chair, as she recognized who was it that he was drawing, it was Pixie. She hated that she felt jealous, that Pixie was basically the opposite of Tori herself, and that Beck still thought about that girl, even after being apart from her for months. Her phone vibrated, and it was Ryder. Instead of the smile she used to have, whenever he texted her, Tori just felt annoyed. He knew she was still in class, why would he text her?! She rolled her eyes, as Beck shifted in his seat, and ran his fingers through his hair throwing it all to the side, and Tori sighed biting her bottom lip. There were so many wrong thoughts going through her mind at that moment, it took another another text message to get her mind out of it.

_From: Ryder _

_I'm right outside, wanted to give you a kiss before I go._

She red the text a couple of times, thinking it was sweet of him to drive fourty minutes just to say goodbye to her, before he left for his hometown to spend Thanksgiving with his family. But she also noticed how if it were a few months ago, she'd have been giggling and have her cheeks flushing red. What was happening to her?! She rested her chin on her hand, waiting for the bell to ring, and a few minutes the teacher came back, sending everyone home earlier. Tori walked out of the class behind Beck, and walked faster until she reached him. Things between her and Beck had been tense ever since the play, they hadn't talked about it either, not because Tori didn't want to, but because he had seemed to disappear over the week. After she had gotten back to campus, on Sunday.

_She sat down in her friend's table who just happened to be talking about the after party, and how Andre and Robbie passed out after drinking only a few beers, and somehow ended up wearing Pear body suits. She caught Beck staring at her, and looked away now sure that he also remembered everything that had happened between the two of them, and desperately wanted to find a way out without hurting him. "Yeah, I drank so much I don't remember a thing"_

_"So you don't remember waking up next to Beck?" Jade asked, and Andre kicked her from under the table. Tori faked laughed, figuring she would just stick to her plan._

_"Yeah, what was that about?" Everyone looked over at Beck, who even though didn't have too much theater experience could actually put on a very real fake smile. He ran his fingers through his hair and nodded his hair._

_"I don't know man, I just remember Tequila... lots of it" They all laughed, except for Jade, who stared at Tori's eyes, knowing that her friend was lying, but kept quiet, Jade didn't like it that she felt so bothered by Tori's and Beck's relationship, or whatever they had going on. Because she knew that, deep down, she was just jealous. Jealous that Tori had everything she wanted, without even trying, two amazing boys chasing after her, the lead of the play... Jade grunted and walked out, marching back to her room to destroy something. _

_They laughing at the table stopped, and Andre rolled his eyes, picking up his keyboard "I'll go make sure she doesn't kill anybody" He also left the table, and Robbie began to talk about Rex, and how it was unfair for the boys to hide him before he went to class, but only Cat was listening. Beck was trying to figure out if what Tori had said was true, it sure looked like it. He looked at her again, noticing the smile on her face had faded away, thinking it she would've had to have drunk a lot more than him to forget the entire night..._

_ "So how are you two spending the week here in Campus? Since everything will be closed and all that..." Cat said, and Beck noticed how Tori's eyes widen, as she let out a nervous laugh, which gave her in. 'She knows, and she's going to pretend like nothing happened?' He thought, also getting up from the table, and walking away. If he was right, and Tori remember the night they spent together, why would she go away with Ryder? For the second time? _

_He stopped in front of the market, fighting the crave that seemed to get bigger by the second. He couldn't straighten out his thoughts. He went in, grabbed what he wanted and went straight to the cashier. He stared at the small box in his hands, and the lighter in the other, then he light up. "If she's denying everything that happened, it's because I was wrong... About everything" he thought, inhaling, and finally blowing out the smoke with an amazing feeling inside._

"So, should we start planning our Thanksgiving dinner?" she asked him, and he looked down at her, taking out a cigarette from the front pocket of his flannel shirt. Tori grabbed him by his arm, stopping right outside the building. "You're smoking again?!"

"Seems like it" he said, lighting up, and blowing a smoke ring onto her face. And instead of putting her finger through it as she used to do, she waved her hand blowing off the smoke. "Why do you even care?" She closed her hands into fists, mad at him for being a jerk to her for no reason at all.

"I..." She looked up at him, who had a blank expression on his face, who looked over her shoulder as they heard a familiar car buzz. "You know what? I don't" she said, turning around and walking towards one of the many parked cars on the school. Only instead of a parent, waiting to pick their kid, she met her boyfriend, and made sure to make a show out of it.

She held on to the collar of Ryder's leather jacket, as he kissed her deeply, with his hands on either sides of her face. "I'm going to miss you Cheekbones" he said, and she didn't bother using words to respond, pulling him into another kiss.

Beck watched from afar, as he inhaled and exhaled, slowly walking back to his room.

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A/N: Hiii guys! I know this was a short chapter but I just wanted to upload before I went on my trip, it's short but it's better than nothing right? Love you all,

- Kiribati


	11. Chapter 11

_'It's Thanksgiving'_ Tori thought, before she even opened her eyes in the morning. She sat up already tired and worn out from the sleepless night, already bored with the Holidays. Every year they were the same, everyone went home to eat Turkey and spend time with their families, while Tori stayed on Campus, without her black coffee. Except that she wasn't alone this time. She got up and brushed her teeth, thinking about all the wrong things in her life, her boyfriend was hundreds of miles away, and she could feel herself turning into grumpy Tori. She grabbed her gym clothes, put on her sneakers and went outside of her room, already running towards the race track. She had to stop thinking about coffee, and Beck. She had to stop thinking Beck, because it shouldn't matter to her that he smoked, he's not her boyfriend! If he wanted to smoke she should let him... Why couldn't she shake off the feeling that she was somewhat responsible for it?

Beck woke up, with the greatest feeling of not having to listen to any puppets talking, then he sat up, grabbed a cigarette and light it up, happy that his roommates weren't there to complain about the smell, so he made sure to blow off a lot of smoke. Needless to say Beck was loving his Holidays so far. Mostly because he hadn't yet gotten out of his room, and made his way to his next plan: Find out if Tori actually forgot what happened after the party.

He got up, and looked out the window, when he saw just the girl he was planning to go looking for running. He rolled his eyes._ 'Here I am, filling my body with toxins, and she's over there doing cardio work'_, he thought, inhaling one last time before putting out the cigarette. He took a shower, got dressed and walked outside to have breakfast. The sun was shining bright, too bright for this time of the year, but it was something he enjoyed. After spending years on England, where a sunny day was as rare as a blue moon, he discovered that the California weather wasn't actually that bad.

Beck walked in the cafeteria and grabbed a plate, looking at what foods they had made for breakfast. He thought, since it was the holidays, that they would make some sort of special food. Like maybe croissants or tropical fruits, but he was wrong, it was the same _Pop Tart_, _Honey Dukes_, sort of thing as always. He got a bottle of pink lemonade and a blueberry muffin, and sat down alone, opening his sketch book and holding a _Sharpie_ with his right hand, and the muffin on the other.

"C'mon!" He heard a girl screaming, and looked behind, it as Tori. "I know you guys have coffee in there!" He turned around, resting his back on the table, with an amused look on his face, as she tried to convince the cafeteria lady to give her coffee. The school wasn't allowed to have caffeine or energetic drinks at the cafeteria, after the parents comitte made a petition saying it wasn't healthy for the kids. So they opened a coffee shop, which Beck thought it was stupid, because students drank it anyway, only they had to ask their parents for more money. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GIVE ME ONE CUP?!" Tori insisted "I'll pay you!" The cafeteria lady rolled her eyes, and went back to the kitchen, ignoring the girl completely. "God damn it!"

She walked over to the buffet, looking at all the foods she didn't want to eat without her coffee to go with it. She let out a frustrated grunt. "So this is what grumpy Tori looks like" Beck said. She looked back, and ignored him, turning back to the buffet and picking up a banana. Beck thought talking to her in that moment might not be the best idea. She put the banana back, and picked up an apple instead, taking a bite off of it. "I get it, you're not talking to me"

"No way! Catherine obvious..." Tori mumbled, and he frowned.

"It's captain obvious" he shot back, oblivious.

"what?!" She answered, suddenly forgetting how, and why she had gotten to that subject. "I always thought it was Catherine."

"Who would Catherine be?!" She was bout to argue back, but his tone of voice made her remember why she was mad at him. So she put a straight face on.

"Why do you care if I say Catherine or obvious?" She walked past him, heading out of the cafeteria. And he collected his stuff, before chasing after her. "What do you want?!" She asked him, as he caught up to her.

"I know you're gonna forgive me anyways," He said, confident, as he followed her inside the girls dorm. "because I have a car, and I can drive you to a Starbucks that's just fifteen minutes away from Campus." She stopped, trying to hide the happiness she was filling inside, and the shame that her addiction took the best of her.

"Fine" she said, stopping in front of her door, and looked ta him, who had a victorious look on his face. "But you're gonna pay for it." She walked past him again, gong straight to his car and sitting in the passenger seat. It was a really cool, vintage car, while Ryder's car was a brand new Mercedes. Tori thought about how they were opposites, and yet she felt... She shook her head, no, she didn't... Couldn't feel anything for Beck. "You were an idiot yesterday, you know that right?"

"Glad to see you're using the past form" He answered, driving away, and turning on the radio. Tori let out an ironic sleeping noise.

"Jeez what's with the funeral music?" she reached over and changed stations.

"Something a lot better than that" he motioned to the Top 40 music, blasting on the car. "Pop music, really?"

She looked at him, surprised. "Please tell me you're not one of those people who think they're too good for pop." She said, as he changed stations again.

"No, I think I am too good for bad music" she turned off the radio, thinking that silence was better than his awful, boring, indie music. She took that as a sign. Her music taste was really similar to Ryder's, only he listened to a lot more of classic rock, but even so, he never criticized her for loving even the most fake, auto tuned music. He even took her to a Ke$ha concert, he didn't even like Ke$ha. She sighed. Wold have Beck taken her to that concert?

_'It doesn't matter'_ she told herself _'I have to stop thinking like this!_'. "What concerts have you been to?" she asked him, desperately trying to stop thinking about hypothetical situations, that took her to a place she didn't want to allow herself to go.

"Some random local bands, that played in the pubs my friends and I used to go... The Strokes, Phoenix and Bombay Bicycle Club" He stopped to think, while Tori tried to recognize any of the bands he had just mentioned. "Oh, and I took Pixie to a Spice Girls Concert... It was awful" He remembered how she begged for him to take her, and how he spent two hours chatting with the security guy over loud screams.

Tori smiled in her mind. If he took Pixie to a concert he didn't even like, maybe he would've taken her too. If they were dating, of course. _'Which we aren't...'_ she sighed, as he pulled in to the parking lot. They were in a small complex, with nothing more than a gas station, a convenience store and Tori's very awaited _Starbucks_. "Thank god!" She said, rushing inside.

He left his pack of cigarettes in car, and waked inside. She had already ordered, and was anxiously waiting in the counter. Beck thought she looked just like a kid on Christmas morning, as he walked over the cashier and took out his wallet. "I want the..."

"I already ordered for you" she said, not taking her eyes off from the guy who was preparing their orders. "Black coffee with Irish cream, right?" He nodded, impressed that she knew what he always ordered. And as he looked at her, he hoped that he was wrong, and that she really didn't remember what had happened in the after party, instead of choosing her boyfriend over him. He ran his fingers through his hair 'I'm so screwed...' he thought, knowing he wasn't going to be able to give up on her, not yet anyways.

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A/N: Hello everyone! I'm back, with a short chapter I'm aware. Alright some important things to tell you: This story is slowly approaching it's end, there will be a few more chapters out, I don't know how many yet but be prepared. I really hope you guys liked this one, and PLEASE review! **I already have the next chapter written out, and I'll uptade according to the number of reviews I get, the more reviews the faster I'll upload**. Love you all,

- Kiribati


	12. Chapter 12

Beck turned his sketch book around, to get a new perspective on his drawing. He always did that, he liked to make sure what he was doing looked decent on every angle. He put down the sketch book and the pen, resting his hands on the grass, as he enjoyed the biggest chair in the world. Two angles of drawing later, Tori ran to his encounter, sitting breathlessly beside him. "Hey" He said, grabbing his pack of cigarettes. "You look like grumpy Tori? Already? You had coffee this morning"

"Shut up" she said, as he blew off some smoke rings for her to cut off. "I'm not in the mood" She grabbed his bottle of water, and drank half of it all in one sip. She had been running for almost two hours, trying to get rid of all the desire she was feeling, from all the coffee she couldn't have, and all the boys she couldn't have. Beck glanced at her, and couldn't help but notice how breathtaking she looked, and how she'd be the perfect girl for one of those water bottle commercials.

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine?"

She stared at him for a few seconds, wanting to rip his head off, and also, at the same time, sort of make out with him... a lot. But she convinced herself it was only because she hadn't seen Ryder in a long time, and she was mixing some old feelings. Than she rolled her eyes, she couldn't even fool herself anymore, but she was going to keep trying. "If you weren't smoking, you'd be a lot worse than me"

He turned to her, with his cigarette between his teeth "do you want to smoke?" She pushed his face away with her palm, finally showing a slight grin. He reached for his pen again, and went back to his sketchbook, finishing up one of the angles, and then looking back at her. "So... Watcha doin'?" She asked, and Beck frowned, showing her his notebook.

"...drawing?" She looked down, where he had finished the drawing he was doing on Friday, during class. Tori recognized her instantly, and she hated it, but what she hated even more than that, was that she was jealous, secretly wishing it was her face in there. Tori sighed, thinking it would probably never be her, because Pixie looked like a piece of art. Her voluminous white blonde hair, deep red lipstick and her piercings, with a cigarette between her teeth. She looks so different and yet so gorgeous, Tori felt like she was just plain average next to her, boring brown hair, boring brown eyes and boring everything. Tori could easily picture the both of them walking around in England, smoking cigarettes and going to their stupid indie concerts. She sighed again.

"Do you really miss her that much?" The words slip out of her mouth, and he shut down his notebook, caught by surprised with that question. He tried to analyze the expression on her face, but he couldn't quite understand it, and he couldn't figure out why she had asked that.

"I miss England" He looked ahead, staring at the trees that surrounded the campus, the race track and the path that led back to the two dorms. "I miss my old life"

"I mean, I know." She put her legs up the her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She swallowed thick air. "But do you miss, _her_?"

"Yeah, she's my best friend" Tori nodded, and looked at him.

"And you said you'd never replace me with some Brit" He smirked, glancing at her and rolling his eyes. But in reality, he didn't, his relationship with Pixie had nothing to do with the one he had with Tori. "Do you still love her?"

Her heart raced as she waited for his answer. "I don't know" He said, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm starting to wonder if I ever loved her at all." Tori frowned, looking at him somewhat revolted, as her girly side spoke louder than her own feelings.

"How can you say that?!" He widen his eyes at her aggressive tone of voice. "Why would you date her for three years, if you didn't love her?!"

"I thought I love her" He tried to hide the smile on his face, as the words slip out of his mouth "and plus, the sex was really good"

"You're an idiot" she said, punching him slightly in the arm. "Classy Beck, real classy." she nodded her head, also carrying a smile on her face, as he burst into laughter. And she didn't know why, but she started laughing too, lying down on the grass, and staring up at the sky until her stomach hurt.

Tori looked over to her side, where Beck was lying down, and her thoughts traveled back to his previous statement. She knew Beck dated Pixie for a long time, and she figured stuff happened. But when she head him say it, it just made it all a lot more real. She couldn't help but imagine his lips on her neck, and her hands on his chest, unbuttoning his jeans... _'Stop torturing yourself'_ she thought, looking at his figure.

He sat back up, and looked down at her. The wind blew on his hair, and he squinted his eyes as the sun began to set. It was moments like this that made it hard for her to keep her feelings away, when he looked more like old Beck, the one she was madly in love with. And that kind of love doesn't just go away. "Gimme your hand" he said, and she also sat up, straightening out her hair as he took her left hand. He took his sharpie, and drew something on it, revealing it to her a few seconds later. It was half of the Yin-Yang. "now do mine"

She smiled, and took his hand drawing the other half on the corner of his hand, which was noticeably worse than his. She handed him the pen back, and they placed hands side by side, the drawings were complete. Beck thought about the day he left, and he couldn't hold back anymore. "Do you remember the day I went away?"

"Like it was yesterday" he retrieved his hand, looking down at her bare legs, glowing under the sun._ 'She has to have forgotten...'_ he told himself again. "When I," he glanced at her, but turned away when she didn't break his gaze "when I leaning in to kiss you... Why didn't you stop me?"

Her heart started to beat faster, and he brain froze. She definitely wasn't expecting that, and she didn't know what to say. She knew what she wanted to say, but there were too many reasons for her no to. "Why did you lean in?"

They stayed in silence for a couple of minutes, the tension building up by the second, and it felt like eternity to both of them. "Do you ever think about what would've have happened if my taxi hadn't arrived?"

"I used to" She answered, getting up, and offering him his hand to help him up. He took it, but she let it go as soon as he was standing. He looked down, she was only a few inches away from him, the tension now was too good to break it up. Tori noticed that if either of them took a deep breath, their chests would touch, her knees shook. "Did you?"

"I do" He said, and she knew that she wasn't going to be able handle that for much longer without doing something stupid.

She looked up at him. "I'm... I'm gonna go..." she couldn't get her words straight, as she gazed into his eyes "...j-jog" He frowned, as she took a step back, and ran away. That should have been it for him, she told him she didn't think about that day anymore. But there was something in her eyes, in her voice, that told him that she was holding something back, and that there were still a lot of unsaid things.

She ran as fast as she could, very confused about the conversation she had just had. 'What did he meant by I do?!' She was determined to run until she figured it out. Did he mean what she thought he did? And if so, what was she supposed to do?! Tori ran faster. Past the janitor, then a small redheaded freshmen, she started to get dizzy, but her mind was so full of confused thoughts and mixed feeling she didn't even notice it. Until it all went black.

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Hello everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews on the last chap, and this time** I will upload as soon as I reach 10 reviews**! Love you all, thank you again for the great feedback!

- Kiribati


	13. Chapter 13

Tori opened her eyes, seeing dark spots for a few seconds before being able to understand what was going on. The janitor and the small freshmen were hovering above her, she sat up. "What happened?"

"You were running, and you just blacked out" the girl said, and Tori noticed how she looked like she was panicking. Which was funny, since she wasn't the one who collapsed on the ground.

"We should take you to the nurse" The janitor said, landing Tori a hand to help her up, and the freshmen an arm for her to lean on. Tori felt a lot of pain, and as she looked down she realized her left foot looked really red. They helped her hop all the way over to the nurses office.

"You're Tori Vega, right?" The freshmen girl said, and Tori looked down at her, still breathing heavily from the impact, as the pain got worse by the minute.

"That's me" she said, trying to be as nice as she could, thought it was a pretty hard thing to do in her condition. Tori had only been to the nurse's office four times before, and it had never been as painful as it did now. After four more minutes of painfully hopping, the Janitor opened the door for them, and Tori threw herself on the bed, finally resting her feet. The nurse on the other hand, looked like she was in massive pain, grunting as the girls walked in.

"These kids always find a way to ruin my holidays..." She said to herself. The school had a pretty strict policy when it came to students injuries and illness, if it was anything remotely serious they would send the student straight to the hospital. So Tori didn't see why the nurse was so grumpy, specially because she had a cup of coffee in her left hand, and also because her job was mainly give out pain killers and call an ambulance. The nurse quickly examined Tori's foot, and the freshmen stood at the corner of the room, staring at them.

"So..." The freshmen girl said, with a shy smile on her face. "Can I do something for you? Get you some water?"

"Yes!" Tori said, resting back on the bad, and biting her bottom lip as the nurse squeezed her foot. "Could you find my friend, Beck?"

The girl shot her a look, with widen eyes as she went pale. "B-Beck... Beck Oliver?!"

Tori started to think that maybe asking her wasn't such a good idea. "Yeah"

"This is the best day ever!" She ran out, and the nurse walked up to the side of her bed.

"when was your last meal?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I ate a turkey sandwich a couple of hours ago" Tori told her, lying down in the bed, starting to get dizzy again.

"Urgh, I hate these anorexic teens" The nurse grunted, walking to the fridge on the corner of the room. On a regular day, Tori might have been offended, but she couldn't think straight, her head was spinning and she felt like she couldn't move a finger. "You probably just have low blood sugar, eat this" she placed a chocolate bar next to her and a bottle of water. "Also, take this to ease up the pain and you should be fine" She gave Tori a pill, and she sat back up.

"Thank-"

"Don't thank me!" The nurse yelled, going back to her seat, and flipping a magazine open. Tori took her pill, and ate half of the chocolate bar she was given, and turned on the TV. But she didn't pay attention, now getting more excited, and more nervous to see the freshmen girl walk in with him. The questions began to echo through her mind again, but her brain froze as she saw him walk in.

"Tor?!" He said, rushing over to her bed. "What happened?" Tori was breathless at the sight of him.

"She went a little overboard on running" The freshmen girl said, but the both of them just ignored her, catching each other's gaze.

"I had low blood sugar," Tori said, forgetting all about the pain she was feeling, as he ran his fingers through his hair "passed out running."

"And I'm the one whose addiction is causing problems" he said, joking around, but she was so focused on controlling herself she didn't laugh "that's what happens when you run away from me" He laugh awkwardly, when the freshmen stepped in between them.

"You ran away from him?!" She said, revolted, and both Tori and Beck looked at her, surprised that she was still there.

"I'm fine now" Tori said, trying not to be rude to this girl who seemed to have no timing "you can go now, thanks". She looked at Tori, and then at Beck who had a Jade-like expression in his face, on a way of saying _'what-the-hell-are-you-still-doing-here'_. The girl walked out, snapping a photo of Beck's hair before leaving.

"Are you two done?" The nurse asked, with a bored expression "She's fine, no need to stay around me anymore" Beck frowned at the nurse, who raised one eyebrow "You can if you want Elvis" Now Tori was the one who stared at her, thinking if she should report that woman to the principle, or maybe the police.

Tori tried to get up, but as soon as her feet hit the ground the pain came back. "Holy Shit!" She gasped in pain, before Beck placed his arm around her back, and helped her up. "Thanks..." She said, looking down at the ground, not daring to look up, knowing that he'd be only a few inches away. She glanced of at the nurse, who was sitting in a wheelchair, she rolled his eyes, and tried to take a step, failing miserably on it.

"Is she really ok?" Beck asked the nurse, who looked up at them for a brief moment, before going back to her magazine without saying a word. "Alright..." He said, and before Tori could react her lifted her up, one arm under her knees and the other on her back, walking out of the nurse's office.

"What are you doing?!" She said, wrapping her arms around his neck, afraid to fall. "Couldn't you ask her for the wheelchair?!"

"Do you really think she would've given it to us?" He said, oblivious, and Tori looked him, less than two inches away from her. She shook the very inappropriate thought out of her mind and looked straight ahead.

"Fine, but I could have hopped over to my room" He kept walking, and even thought she was arguing with him, she wasn't making any real effort for him to put her down. Not that she really wanted him to put her down anyways. They entered the girls dorm, and Tori started to look for her keys. "Oh no" She said, as he put her down, helping her stand in only one feet.

"What is it?" She sighed, leaning against her door.

"I forgot my keys" She said, and he scratched the back of his neck, looking at his watch. The school's office closed at six pm, it was almost an hour after that, and the only spare keys were with them. "Fuck!" She said, and Beck looked around. He wasn't going to let her sleep outside, or in one of the common room's couches.

"C'mon, you can sleep in my room, there are three beds in it" He said, offering his arms to pick her up again. She took it, resting her head on his shoulder, as he began to walk towards his room. "There is also a small fourth bed, if you want, but that's Rex's"

"Robbie is a weird dude" she said, laughing quietly. They got to his door, and he put her down, to get his keys, she bit her bottom lip, looking at him feeling everything, but fraternal feelings. He finally opened the door for her, and she hopped over to the nearest bed, which just so happened to Beck's. Tori just now realized that she was going to spend the night with him. Not really_ with_ him, but together... And that usually got somewhat intense. Tori breathed out, to calm herself down before he noticed anything, turning on the TV to cut out the silence.

He joined her on the bed, placing his hand next to hers, the Yin-Yang was complete again. "What do you want to watch?" He asked, flipping through the channels, and stopping in a movie he hand't watched in years. "Groundhog Day" he said, looking at her with a crooked smile "that was one of your favorites, wasn't it?"

"Yes... God, I haven't watched in such a long time" She said, opening a smile as she stared at the screen. It was her favorite movie, she watched almost everyday after Beck left. I talks about seconds chances, and that's what she wished back then more than anything, a second chance to get things right with Beck. And tell him the truth. Or at least throw out his phone, so the Taxi wouldn't ruin the moment she awaited for so long.

_"Why are you here?"_ The lead character on the movie says, as her wakes up, to see the woman he's in love with him next to him in Bed. Tori always got goosebumps on that part, when everything got together, like she hoped one day Beck and her would... She glanced at him, feeling her blood getting hotter, and her heartbeat stronger.

"You said stay, so I stayed" she answered him, Beck knew the movie was about to end, since Tori made him watch it at least four times when they were younger. He offered her the remote, but she kept looking straight at the TV.

Until she wasn't.

He stared at her, with the remote on his hand, as she slowly turned around. Her mind was blank, she put all of her thoughts aside, and did what her heart told her to. What her heart was telling her to do ever since he had gotten back. She stood on the knee of her current good leg, placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him. His mind was in shock but his body answered, and as he placed his hands on her waste her hands traveled from his face to the back of his neck, and soon she had her arms wrapped around it, as she let her weight fall over him. His hand traveled to her lower back and down to her legs, lifting her up enough to place her in his lap, but not enough that they'd have to break apart.

The credits of the movie began to roll, but they were too busy to notice it.

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A/N: Hey guys! **Thank you SO much for the reviews!** And as I promised, here's another one! The rule is the same, **ten reviews** and I will upload! Love you all,

- Kiribati


	14. Chapter 14

Robbie carried his bags with his right hand, on the Rex on the left one, slowly walking towards the boy's dorm. "You're parent forgot about you!" The puppet exclaimed, laughing ironically afterwards "They went to South Africa, and left you behind!" He laughed again, and Robbie just nodded in consent. He got home, and there wasn't anybody there, except for a thousand voice mails from his Grandma, the first one telling him about his parents trip, and all the other ones about problems she was having with the internet. Robbie thought his Thanksgiving holiday couldn't get worse, until his Grandma starting to interfere in all aspects of his life for him to help her with the internet. So he got his emergency credit card, booked a flight and came back to school.

He walked in, put his suitcase over his bed, and turned around to say hello to his roommate, who he knew wasn't going to go home. "Well this is awkward..." Rex said, as Robbie widen his eyes, shocked and frozen, to see two of his best friends together in bed. Tori slowly opened her eyes, sighing and biting her bottom lip as she saw the boy beside her, who had a troubled expression on his face. It didn't took more than a few seconds for her to find out why. They weren't alone.

She shot herself under covers, and Beck sat up, with a nervous smile. "Robbie! What are you doing here dude?!"

"My parents..." He began to say, as if he hadn't walked in on his friends, whom are far as he could tell were sleeping in bed, half naked.

"That's great Robbie!" Beck cut him off. "Why don't you go outside, and I'll be right out to hear it?" He shrugged and began to make his way out.

"Can I join the two of you?" Rex asked, and Robbie began to yell at him, as he shut the door, leaving Tori and Beck alone.

"oh my god" Tori said, as Beck pulled the covers away from her face, but she had her hands over it. Covering her cheekbones, that were both red as a tomato from embarrassment. "Oh my freaking god!" She sat up, running her hands on the hair.

"It's Robbie" Beck said, placing his hand on her shoulder, drawing lines on her skin. "He probably didn't understand why we were together"

"Yeah, well, Rex did" Tori said back, trying to get up from his bed, and falling back on it. "Fuck!" She said, staring at her foot, who was still hurting.

"Calm down" She looked back at him, and he leaned in, giving her a soft peck. "I'm gonna go to the administration's office, and get your spare keys, how does that sound?"

"Thank you" She said, smiling shyly, and Beck got up, put his shirt on and slipped on his combat boots, heading outside. He found Robbie sitting on the ground, with a backpack by his side who complained about being grounded.

"Rex is in a time out" He said, getting up. "Where are you going?"

"To the administration's office, you're coming with me" He said, and Robbie began to follow him. Beck didn't want to risk another unpleasant walk in on Tori, even though she wasn't going to do much in there, he felt that she needed to be alone for a while.

"You and Tori huh?" Beck nodded his head, listening to his words, and being unable to keep a smile from spreading on his face. "Did you guys had sex?" His smile faded.

"Is that really necessary, Robbie?" He kept waiting for an answer, and Beck scratched the back of his neck, thinking that if he didn't answer he would just insist on it. "No we didn't, satisfied?"

"I don't believe you" Robbie said, as they walked in the office. "Why would you be naked in bed with someone, if you didn't have sex?" The lady behind the counter looked at the both of them in shock, and Beck rolled his eyes. Beck asked for the spare key, and the lady went back inside to get it. Robbie turned to him again, waiting for his answer. "I don't see why you would lie to me"

"Number one we weren't naked" He began "I was just shirtless, number two there are things other than sex that you can do with someone" Robbie widen his eyes, and Beck turned back to the lady, who walked back with a two keys in her hands.

"Now, don't lose these!" She said, handing it to him with a judgmental look, sitting back on her chair. He turned around walking out, and Robbie followed him.

"What other things?" He asked Beck, almost like a whisper, as if he was about to discover one of the secrets of the world. Beck looked at him surprised.

"You'll figure it out someday big boy" He said, tapping him on the back, as they reached the square, and walked back to their room, finding Tori sitting on the edge of his bed, with her hair on a high ponytail, watching TV. "So" Beck said, awkwardly moving to his bed, and taking Rex out of his backpack. "Do you want me to carry you back to your chambers or..."

"I don't I'll be able to walk myself there" Tori said, standing up on her one good foot "But I can hop" She hopped over to him, and he grinned.

"Don't even" He said, picking her up and carrying her out. "I guess we had an interesting morning" He said, and sighed, thinking about Robbie.

"To say the least... I really need some coffee right now" He smiled, looking at her as they entered the girls room.

"We'll go as soon as you're ready" He stopped at her door, putting her down and handing her the keys. "Are you ok, do you need any help with something?"

"It's fine" She told him, unlocking her door, and hopping in, holding the door. "I'm just gonna take a shower."

"Do you need any help with that?" He said, smirking.

"Shut up" He kissed her forehead, and she smiled, shutting the door, and hopping over to her bed. She wanted to text Cat, and Jade and Andre, to tell them about the night she had just had. Too many unbelievable things had happened, and she was in cloud nine. She was.

Her phone beeped, and she reached it on the other end of her bed, when her heart fell from her chest. Her background picture was hers and Ryder's. Ryder, her boyfriend, the one she had cheated the night before, the one she completely forgot about until now. Her phone beeped again, it was a text from an anonymous caller. She opened it up, and she regret it instantly.

From: Anonymous

_To: Tori Vega_

_Thought you should know about this._

There was a photo attached to it, and as Tori scrolled down, and saw Ryder. Ryder with a girl, kissing. Her chin fell, and she took a look closer, tears instantly pouring down her eyes.

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A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter, here's the next one! Hope you all like it! Love,

- Kiribati


	15. Chapter 15

Beck knocked on Tori's door, after almost two hours since he had left her there, after their encounter with Robbie. At least he had come in handy, giving Beck the pair of crutches he kept under his bed, in case he was beaten up, again. Tori heard the knock, and dragged herself out of bed, slowly hopping to the door. She knew it was going to either be Beck or Robbie behind it. She really hoped it was going to be Robbie. She wasn't ready to tell her best friend the news, specially after the night they had shared together, and having Beck acting all charming and cute to her on the next morning...

She just really hoped it was Robbie.

"Hey" Beck said, holding up a pair of crutches. "I got these from Robbie, so you can walk around by yourself... Or at least not being carried by me" He handed them to her, and paid attention to her face. She had red and puffy eyes, which he might have been suspicious of, it it were someone else. But it was Tori, and her baggy clothes and messy wet hair told him that something was very wrong.

"Thanks." She said, already using them to help her stand.

"What's wrong?" He asked, reaching for her hair, and tucking some of it behind her ear, but she looked down, backing away. "Tor?"

"Ryder, Beck." She said, and furrowed his eyebrows, running his fingers through his hair, trying to keep his nerves down, instead of turning into a ball of anger that he always did, when hearing that guy's name. "He cheated on me." She said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Is that such a bad thing, I mean..." Beck waited to get a reaction from her, but she kept silent. "You do remember last night, right?" He asked her, in a sarcastic tone of voice. Already going into his defensive mode, he waited for an answer.

"I just need some time to think" She said, and he nodded his head, putting his hands inside his pockets and sighing slowly, almost as if he was exhaling smoke that wasn't there.

"Fine" He said, taking a step back. "You know where to find me" He walked away, and Tori shut the door, using the crutches to get to her bed, collapsing on it as she opened her cellphone, staring at the photo that as sent to her. She began to dial the numbers she knew by heart, and after a couple of rings, he picked up.

_"Cheekbones, baby!"_ She bit her bottom lip, trying not to break down on the phone with him.

"We need to talk" She said, and there was silence on the other side of the line. "I saw this photo... Of you and this girl... together..."

_"What are you talking about Cheekbones?"_ He asked, and she ran her fingers through her hair, sighing to try and keep it together.

"You and this stupid blonde girl, I have a picture, and I know it's recent because you're using the jacket I gave you for our anniversary."

_"Cheekbones"_ He tried again, and she sat up, wanting to yell at him, but then she was reminded of what she did, and that she was no worse. She was the same, because she cheated on him, and wasn't going to tell._ "Look, that happened after you left the day after we had a big fight. I was angry and I did a stupid thing, and I regret it so much baby. I love you, and if there's anything I can do to make it up to you... I'm really sorry"_ He went on, ranting about it, saying he was sorry over and over again.

Tori felt awful, she didn't know it was even possible to feel any worse than she had been feeling before. She could feel how bad Ryder felt, just by his voice, and yet there she was, pretending to be victim of the whole story. She cut him off. "It's fine, baby, I forgive you." He stopped talking, but she could feel him smiling on the other side of the line. "We all slip sometimes, and it was a one time thing, I get it. I love you"

_"I love you too Cheekbones."_ She looked down, thinking about what she had to do next, and dreading the consequences she might have to suffer. "I'm sorry, I have to go now, my Mom is calling me"

"Ok, love you, bye." She hung up, and picked up Robbie's crutches, gathering the little courage she had left, and going outside, to meet the other boy she needed to talk to. She got outside of the girl's dorm, and saw both Beck and Robbie sitting down on a patio table. She made her way to it, and sat down in front of Beck, next to Robbie.

"So, did you break up with him yet?" Robbie asked, and Beck looked up at her, paying attention.

"I...hum..." She glanced at Beck with shame, and looked away, trying to find a way to say the truth. Both the boys noticed the hesitation in her voice, Beck stared at her.

"You're not going to break up with him" Beck sighed, running his fingers through his hair, and looking at her in disbelief. "The guy cheats on you, and you stay with him. Nice."

"Well I'm no better now, am I?" She shot back, and he pinched his nose, shutting his eyes for a brief moment.

Robbie felt uncomfortable sitting between the two of them. It almost as if he was in the middle of a couple arguing, only as far as he could tell Tori and Beck weren't dating. He got up to leave, only to have Tori tell him to stay. Beck continued to ignore his existence, too revolted with the fact that she wasn't going to leave him.

_'What does that guy have?!'_ He thought. As she began to speak again. "It's not that simple alright?"

Robbie got up again, and none of them noticed this time, too caught up in each others gaze. "How is it not simple? The guy cheats on you, and you break up with him. That's how it works."

"It was only one time okay?! Rings a bell?" Now he was mad, really mad at her for treating him like that. "He was mad and he has needs, we all have needs and that fucks us up!"

"Yeah we all have needs!" He raised his tone of voice. "But Robbie has been desperate from eighteen years and I don't see him raping any girl he can get his hands on!"

"It's..." She bit her bottom lip, thinking about Ryder, and all of the things they had gone through together, and what he meant to her... The plans she had made with him, that she wasn't ready to let go. "I can't ok! I gave Ryder...everything... It can't just end like this" She was breathless from her extreme change of emotions. Going from depressed to raging and shame, Tori just wanted to cry again, because she couldn't run away from her problems this time, literally. "Without Ryder I have nothing."

He swallowed thick air, and got up, begging to walk away. "Beck..." Tori begged, and he stopped, slowly turning around to give her one last chance, as he took a cigarette from the front pocket of his shirt, holding it between his thumb and index finger.

"I know you didn't forget" He accused, thinking that he didn't have anything to lose. She stayed still, not sure about what he meant, though her suspicions later turned out to be true.

"What are you-" She began, with a shaky voice, but he began to speak again before she could finish.

"After the play, I know you remember what happened and so do I." If she hand't been lying to him, he would've known, because even though he couldn't read her as well as he did other people, Tori always gave herself in. She was an awful liar, and by the way her mouth shuttered and her eyes wandered away from his, he was now certain that his speculation was true.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" She got up, standing on her good foot, as he light up the cigarette he had been holding. "I only remembered what happened after I went out of the room! And you were asleep, and I didn't know what to do!"

He nodded his head with an ironic grin. "It was an easy choice, and you chose him."

She stomped her bad foot of the floor, very childlike, feeling a lot of pain and burning sensation on it afterwards, and yet she kept still, staring at him. "How was I supposed to know you liked me?! For all I knew we were playing a game, you have laughed it off in the morning for all I cared! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"You said you didn't remembered a thing! What did you wanted me to say?! Oh so you forgot about the fact that we made out in your bed, and then you ran away with Ryder fucking Daniels?!"

Hearing her boyfriends name weighted heavier than gravity to her, and she fell back on the metal bench. Tear began spilling down her face, and for a second, Beck's first instinct was to go over to her, and try to make it okay. He hated to see her hurting, but that feeling went away as soon as he remembered the circumstances they were in. "How was I supposed to know you felt that way about me?" She cried, and he threw his cigarette on the ground, stepping on it.

"God! Tori! Stop playing stupid! Of course I like you! I'm crazy about you, I've always been crazy about you!" He light up another one up, the adrenaline rushing through his blood in a way he wasn't used to. Begining to walk away again, but Tori quickly got up and jumped over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder, but he didn't turn around.

"Beck... Don't go."

"Why?" He asked, feeling her hand slip away. "So you can run back to Ryder when you're done with me?" He finally said, storming off to his run.

Tori fell over the table, burriyng her face between her crossed arms, and sobbing like a child.

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A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you for the reviews on the last chap, this was an intense one but I hope you liked it! Love to all,

- Kiribati


	16. Chapter 16

Beck woke up early in the morning, having slept no more than a total of three of hours, all he wanted was to get out of campus, and get his mind away from everything. He changed changed his clothes, fixed his hair and woke Robbie up, telling him to get ready because they were going out. "It's too early to take off my pajamas." Robbie complained, and Beck's answer was throwing him a pair o jeans and a shirt aggressively. He didn't feel like putting up with anyone's shit today. "Fine!" Robbie said, sitting up. "But can you grab Rex's clothes?"

"I think he will sleep late today" He told him, grabbing his car keys and cigarettes. "I'll wait for you in the car."

Robbie got dressed as fast as possible, put on his glasses and rushed out of his room, stopping by the cafeteria to get a sandwich before they left, so he wouldn't have to spend extra money on food. "Robbie!" He turned around, and saw Tori, sitting alone in a table, with her cellphone and a bow of cereal. He made his way awkwardly to her, watching the clock, afraid to piss off Beck by being late. "So, how's everything?"

He knew what she mean by_ 'everything'_. Not even Robbie was that clueless. "Beck is not speaking to me about it, so I don't know." He took a bite off his sandwich. "He only talks to Pixie about these stuff, sorry." He shrugged, and walked out.

Tori sighed, stirring her cereal in circles since she had gotten it. The cereal was more of pasty wheat and sugar by now. Hearing Robbie talk about Pixie made her angry, really angry, but she was so tired after spending a night awake, crying every time something reminded her of what was happening, she got too lazy to act on her feelings. She nodded her head, trying to change her focus.

She thought about the future she had yet to look forward with Ryder. Go to Berkeley, move in together, and the future. A future with no Beck, which would make a thousand times easier. It was a part of relationships to overcome some bumps in the road, and after almost on year of basically a long term honeymoon relationship, Tori accepted the one slip he had had, and hers. After all, that was normal for young couples.

At least that's what she kept telling herself.

"Hi" The freshmen girl, who had helped her get to the nurse's office a couple of day before said, approaching her. "I couldn't help but overhear you and Beck yelling at each other, yesterday." She sat down across from Tori.

"So?" She answered, not feeling like being nice, at all.

"I'm just saying, I think you should choose Beck." She looked at Tori, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, have you ever touched his hair?!"

'Yes.' She thought. 'Touched, smelled, and ran my fingers through it. As I slowly started to loose my best friend's friendship.' She sighed, looking down and swallowing thick air. She built up some fake confidence, and looked back up at the freshmen. "Have you even seen my boyfriend?" She asked cockily, thinking that she was beginning to sound like Jade. "He's in college, strong, with amazing blue eyes."

"I know Ryder." She said, sighing as her mouth faded into a shy smile. The freshmen girl seemed to pleased when talking about either one of the boys. "Everybody knows him, you two are the it couple of this school." She added, now with a jealous tone. "But if he cheated on you, it's because he doesn't really love you."

Tori's blood started to rush to her face, as she began to angrier. "Well if you had gotten your facts straight, you would know that Beck's saying all that, but as soon as he gets on a plane to England he'll go right back into his beloved, pierced, English lover's arms!" She raised her tone of voice, but not at the girl, at herself. As if she had been keeping those words in a hidden place, and was just now breaking it down to herself. "What do you even know anyways, you're like twelve!"

"I'm fifteen!" The girl argued, getting up, and looking at Tori in dismay. "I'm just trying to be a friend here... But I bet you don't even know my name, do you?" Tori stared at the girl, with the best 'go away' look she could put on. _"Whatever."_ She said, walking away from her, and leaving her alone once again.

Tori rested her face on her hands, and began to feel really sad, and she started crying, wanting to apologize to the freshmen for not knowing her name, and being a bitch to her. Then she wanted to lock herself in a dark room and cry more, for being cheated on by Ryder, by ruining things with Beck, and by basically ruining everything.

The cafeteria lady walked over to her, handing her a cup of hot coffee, and Tori held it with both her hands, as if it were the holy grail. "Don't tell anyone I gave you that." She told her, as Tori nodded and took a sip off the beverage she needed the most, being the only thing she hadn't ruined yet.

Beck grabbed a graphic pen, and threw it on his cart, along with a lot of useless things that Beck thought looked appealing, and a few things he actually needed, like that graphic pen. He and Robbie had been in nearest Walmart for almost three hours, and Robbie hadn't been silent for more than a minute since they had left campus. Now he was rambling about all the kinds of ink that he was allergic to, and for the first time, Beck was actually listening to it, trying to get his mind as far as possible from the thoughts that were waiting to haunt him.

He felt awful. He felt like he was back in two thousand and nine, when he was a scared fifteen year old, in love with a girl that was unreachable, because he would never be enough. He promised himself he would never feel that way again, but it was impossible not to. Only this time it was worse, because he had actually had hope.

He reached for a pack with nine pens, each of them in a different color, and showed them to Robbie. "These are the kind you can use, right?" The boy nodded, and Beck threw them in the cart. His plan for the rest of the semester, which was gladly the rest of the break and only a week left, was to spend as much as time away from her, as he could. Doing everything in his power to get over it, like he had done once before. So this afternoon he was going to eat on the cheapest fast-food place he could find, and draw fake tattoos on Robbie's skin.

"I think we're good." Robbie said, looking at all the random stuff Beck had gotten. A couple of pinatas shaped like Phineas and Ferb, an airbrush tattoo set, among other random things. "What do you say we go back to Campus?" Beck looked at him, and grabbed the cart, moving on to the next isle, ignoring him completely.

Forty minutes and a hundred and twenty dollars later they made Beck's car, putting everything on the back seat, and waited for Beck to finish his cigarette, before walking to the only fast food in the complex to have lunch. They made their orders, and sat down one one of the many booths available. They ate quietly, because Robbie's mouth was beginning to ache from talking so much. So Beck began to sing in his mind, one song after the other, until all he could about was song lyrics. Until his subcontinent cheated him, and before he could even process what he was singing, the words echoed through his mind.

_"The best you ever had_  
_Is just a memory and those dreams_  
_Not as daft as they seem_  
_Not as daft as they seem_  
_My love when you dream them up."_

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A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you liked this one, I sure liked you reviews on the last one. And for those of you who tried to guess, no, the girl isn't Jade or Cat! Remember the **ten reviews** rule! Just a disclaimer here the song I quoted in the end is_ 'Fluorescent Adolescent'_ by the _'Arctic Monkeys_'. Love,

- Kiribati


	17. Chapter 17

Robbie scrubbed his skin, but apparently, not only Beck had fond pens with the kind of kind that he wasn't allergic to, but they were also permanent. Robbie looking himself in the mirror, thinking that if they didn't wash out before he had to come back home, his Mom might kick him out again. "At least you look less nerdy." Rex said, sitting at the sink counter. "I think you're actually ten percent cool now."

Robbie shrugged, and went back to his room, where Beck was sleeping. It seemed to him like that was all he did when they were on campus. They fell into a routine of leaving Campus before nine AM, going anywhere Beck wanted, like a nudist beach where they kept yelling at people to put their clothes on, and visiting lots of vegetable gardens. Then they would stop at a random fast food before going back to Campus, where Robbie would take Rex for a walk, and Beck would stay inside locked up in his room. He hadn't talked to since the day they fought. And after her efforts of reaching him proved not to be effective after the first couple of days, when he didn't answer any messages or calls and ignored the notes she left on his door or told Robbie to pass on, she just gave up.

**A WEEK LATER**

"I'm not ready for him to leave" Tori admitted, holding a half drank cup of coffee in her left hand, resting her back on the school's kitchen counter. "And I'm not ready for Ryder to come back either."

"Then break up with Ryder... PASS THE BEANS!" The cafeteria lady, who had given her coffee a few days before yelled, and a man handed her a platter of beans, that she began to cook. Her name was Florence Smith. Tori made sure to ask this time.

"I can't." Tori argued. "I don't even remember how my life was before him, I'd be lost without Ryder." She finished her coffee and sighed. She wished she could talk to Andre, Jade or Cat about this. But since Beck hadn't said anything about it, that she knew of, she decided to keep quiet too. So now her current best friend was Florence, the cafeteria lady.

"But you do remember how it was when Beck was still around, right?"

"Yes, and it was horrible!" Tori rolled her eyes, thinking about it. "That fear of him finding how I felt about him, but also kind of wanting him to find out, so I'd finally know if he felt that way back..." Tori stopped, and stared blankly at the wall. Her brain seemed to finally working for the first time in days. "But I know how Beck feels about me, and he's not the same he was four years ago. I'm not the same, and... I don't think I would have cheated on Ryder if I really loved him, I..." She stopped talking, bringing her hand up to her agape mouth.

"You gotta make a choice." Florence said. "PASS ME MORE BEANS!" She yelled again, and Tori knew what she had to do.

She rushed out of the kitchen, enjoying the ability to walk properly again, destined to find Beck. He might have ignored her before, but she wasn't going to let him slip away that easy this time. Even if she had to camp outside his bedroom door. She scanned the campus trying to spot him, but she figured he wasn't there, as most days. Her eye caught a glimpse of a combat boot, and she turned her head to left, seeing fluffy hair and olive skin. It was him. He heart began to race, as she followed him, as he walked behind the building. She stood in the corner, looking at him from afar, trying to mentally prepare herself for the step she was about to take.

_"I know"_ He said, and Tori took a step closer, to hear what he was saying, and his words took her by surprise._ "I miss you too, but it's only a week, than we'll have the whole break to ourselves. I love you too, okay, bye."_

Her mind instantly went to the angry place. _'He was playing me!'_ She thought, and _'I was right, and he's no better than I am!'_. But then she began to think about what she did, and how he must have been as hurt as she was and... She couldn't give up just yet, she needed to see if he still showed some, any, interest in her. She walked after him, and saw that he was carrying his bags, ready to head to the airport.

He grabbed his carry on, putting his Pearphone on his pocket, going to his car. He had just called Pixie to make sure she was picking him up in the airport, so he wouldn't have to take the, as he liked to call, _'tube'_, to her house. He heard high heels clacking behind him, and looked over his shoulder. It was Tori. "Hi" She said, with a friendly smile on her face. A smile he didn't correspond.

"Hey" Her courage was going away by the minute.

"I just..." She looked at his straight face, and then broke away from his eyes, forgetting what she meant to say. "I wanted to wish you a good break." He nodded, and continued to walk.

"Thanks"

"Beck, wait!" She followed him. "I also wanted to apologize, for the way I handled things, and..."

"It's fine, no need for apologies" He told her, as they reached his car. "Have a good break yourself." He opened the trunk, and threw his stuff carelessly in it, and Tori crossed her arms, trying to think of something to say.

He shut the trunk, and turned around looking at her. "I guess this is goodbye." He said, while running his fingers through his hair, as she bit her bottom lip.

"I guess." She sighed, but before he could get into the car, she rushed towards him, and took his hand, squeezing it with a sorrowful look. "I am sorry."

He looked down, and she took a step closer, giving him a kiss on the cheek. With her hand resting softly on one side of his face. Her lips burning from the contact, and her heart being slowly torn to shreds, as she thought about the other girl, waiting for him all the way across the ocean. He looked down at her, as they fazed into each others eyes._ 'There is no taxi in my way this time.'_ She thought._ 'Nothing in our way.'_ She leaned closer, and suddenly felt Beck's hand on her chest, slightly pushing her away.

"Not like this." He said, taking a deep breath, as their noses still brushed. "Don't get caught up in old memories." He retrieved his hand, as she stood still. _"Bye Tori."_ He whispered, turning around, getting inside his car, and as she took a step aside, he drove away. Her phone began to rang, and as she saw who it was on the screen, instead of lighting up, her whole being got tired. Tired of seeing that face, tired of trying to convince herself that he was right for her.

"Ryder" She answered, taking deep breaths, to control her emotions. "We need to talk."

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A/N: Hi guys! So sorry for the delay on the update! I had an extremely busy weekend and my internet was down the whole Sunday until now, so here it goes! I hope you liked this? I didn't think it was very good so idk... Love y'all,

- Kiribati


	18. Chapter 18

Tori walked inside her room, and was so depressed from what had just happened she didn't even notice she wasn't alone until her friends called her by her name. "What?!" Tori said, quickly looking up and seeing Andre and Jade, sitting down on the couch, and Robbie and Cat up on her castle. Robbie was wearing a princess dress, that looked extra funny because of the contrast with his fake tattoos. "Oh right, you guys are there." She laid down in her bed, in her side, and stared down at the floor, with cards spread everywhere. "What did you guys play? Extreme poker?"

Andre frowned. "Did you drink any coffee today?" He asked, giving her unusual grumpiness.

"I'm sorry, I'm just..." Tori's voice faded, and she sighed again, rolling to her back, and staring at the top bunk.

"We have something to tell you." Jade said, and Tori let out a suffering moan, thinking she couldn't handle any more bad news. "You should sit down."

"I'm lying down" Tori said, oblivious.

"SIT DOWN!" She yelled, and Tori shot up, crossing her legs and looking at Jade. "Alright, so..." She looked at Andre, who rolled his eyes. Ever since they had gotten back from winter break, and found out about... About the thing Tori shouldn't have to find out. They were discussing who would be the one to tell her, in case they got to a situation like this, Jade said she would, but Andre knew that when the time came he would be the one to tell her. In other cases Beck would be the perfect choice to talk to her, and deal with whatever way she reacted, but he was on his way to the airport, and there was no other way.

"So... You know how Jade and I live in LA, right?" Tori nodded. They were the only ones in the group who lived in the same town, Cat lived in San Francisco, Robbie lived in Sacramento and Tori lived in San Diego. That's why they hardly ever saw each other over the break.

"Yeah..." Tori said, suspicious, trying to figure out where they were going. If Jade was quiet, that meant they were about to break something really bad to her.

"There was this day where we decided to go to this new Japanese place, Nozu." He glanced over at Jade, then at the top bunk, and stopped talking, with a serious look on his face. Jade took a deep breath, and looked at Tori.

"We know that Ryder cheated on you, we were the ones who send you that picture of him with that girl." Tori was shocked, but she thought that the fact that they used an anonymous source to send it to her, instead of telling her themselves wasn't good enough of a fight for her to pick. "And well, we thought you were gonna break up with him right there right then, but since you didn't... I guess there is no other way for us to tell you this." She opened her Pearphone and turned the screen to Tori, whose heart, already being torn since her conversation with Beck, finally ripped apart.

The photo showed the same girl from the photo she had received over the Holidays, only this time... She had a diamond ring on her finger, and he looked like the happiest man ever. Tori couldn't catch her breath, the space around her began to close and her friends looking at her, waiting for a reaction only made her feel more trapped. She got up, looking around as if trying to find a reason, something to make it all make sense, someone to tell her she wasn't just a stupid eighteen year old, who wasted a year of her life, dating a guy who... 'Who was actually cheating on his girlfriend with me!' Tori walked out of her room, shutting the door behind her, and walking outside of the dorm, and to the race track.

The nurse hadn't cleared her to run yet, but she needed to run away, even if it was just for a couple of hours. So she did, she ran, and she ran until she reached the complex with nothing but a Starbucks and a convenience store. Her feet hurt from running that fast, with her previous injury not fully healed, and the fact that she wasn't wearing any heels. She was completely worn out. She didn't even wanted to drink coffee anymore.

She took her phone out of her pocket, and dialed the numbers she knew by heart.

"I knew you would change your mind, Cheekbones." She heard Ryder's voice, and it just made her feel worse all together. But she had to hear it from him.

An hour before, after Beck left, and he called her. Tori decided to end things, she finally came to her senses, that even though Beck didn't wanted to be with her, she wouldn't be happy with Ryder. She didn't love him like she did before, and it was time to end things, it had been good while it lasted, but not everything relationship was meant to last forever. But he sounded confident on the other side of the line, saying she would come to her senses and go back to him, that what they had was special. Tori didn't give in to her words, and stood strong behind her decision.

"Don't call me Cheekbones." She said, sitting down on the sidewalk. "I just called to congratulate you. Getting engaged, ya know, a big step for a couple."

"Baby, don't get mad at me." He said. "You knew what we had going on was fun, but it could never be anything too serious. You and I, we're fun we have amazing sex, but you're still in high school baby, Julienne, she's my age, it's a whole different thing."

"So that's what I was for you? Great for me to know I was the only one who thought it was more than sex."

"Don't be that way Cheekbones, I still love you, only..."

Tori ended the call, and looked around, feeling misplaced in the world. Each word Ryder said felt like a stab in her heart, and the pain only got worse by the second. She kicked off her heels, and continued to run nowhere.

Beck got out of the plane, threw a couple of mints in his mouth and made his way to baggage claim. He grabbed his luggage, and went on the immigration, and after twenty minutes of waiting in line and a five minute interview he was officially inside the UK. And he couldn't feel any better.

He breathed in the London air, and made his way to the Metro station, where he knew Pixie would be waiting for him. He scanned through all the people in the crowd, until her spotted her. A tall, blonde girl, with an unlit cigarette on the front pocket of her over sized wool sweater, and a smile on her face.

She walked towards him, and he reached her, leaving his bags behind and kissing her. Pixie wasn't one to hesitate, smiling as she kissed him back. Before she abruptly pulled away, with her arms resting on his chest, and worried look on her face. "I'm so sorry!" She said, biting her bottom lip. "I forgot you stopped smoking and I smoked one before, I..." He smiled, just by seeing how worried she was.

"That just makes me want to kiss you even more." He said, before she smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and crashing her lips onto his. Beck enjoyed seeing his best friend after such a long time, but a part he had been trying to keep away as much as possible couldn't help but make him feel like what they had wasn't as good as before. Like nothing would be as good as it was, because no girl would ever make him feel like does...

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A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you guys liked this one, please please please review! Love, and,

**Please check out my new Bori story 'Hello Stranger'!**

- Kiribati


	19. Chapter 19

"So" Pixie said, turning on the lamp on her nightstand. "Tell me more about California."

"There's nothing to tell." He said, running his fingers through her hair, and kissing her neck. He still couldn't believe how she had managed to convince her parents on letting him stay at their house while they were on Holiday. "England is way more interesting." He told her, planting a kiss on her lips.

"Stop trying to distract me with sex." She said with a foolish grin on her face, and he pulled away, but no more then a couple of inches. "I was the one who taught you that move, did you really think I was going to fall for it?"

"But I miss you." He said, pouting his eyes, and she placed her hands on either sides of his face and kissing him briefly, before getting up from her bed.

"I missed you too" She picked his pleaded shirt, and put it on leaving her bare, long legs showing. "And I missed you very large pleaded shirts." She sat down in her desk chair, leaving him alone on the bed. He reached for her chair, and rolled it over to the edge of the bed. She wrapped her arms around his neck, as he placed his hands on her lower waste. "If you don't want to talk, I'm not going to force you." She said, raising her eyebrows as he moved one hand from her waste to her nose, as he softly ran his fingers on her nose ring.

Both their phones rang, it was a new message from their friends telling them to dress up, because they were heading to a pub downtown. Beck smiled._ 'How I missed my old life'_ He thought, jumping out of the bed, and making his way to his suitcase, to grab some clothes.

Tori walked inside her house for the first time in months, and breathed in, exhausted. She had spent a almost an hour inside the car with her sister Trina, who she loved, but only for ten minutes, tops. She could get very self absorbing at times, and it's even worse and she's driving back from her college Campus, and spent the entire trip complaining that she had been driving for almost four hours, and that Tori should get a license so they would split the time.

Her sister's way of talking about other and herself didn't bother her too much, and on that day Tori hadn't paid attention to ten percent of what her sister had said. All she could think about was the past week she had just had, dreading every second of it. If it wasn't enough for her to lose her best friend, she also found out that she deserved the_ 'Stupid Girl'_ award of the year, because Ryder... It wasn't worth thinking about him. He was someone she was very gladly try to forget, unlike Beck... Beck the one she had been trying to shake off of her for four, almost five years, and wasn't capable of doing so. _'And now he's in that Brit girl's bed...' _

"Tori, sweetie!" Her mother said, rushing to the door and pulling her into a hug. "It's so good to have you back home, I'm already making a family pot pie for us!" Mrs. Vega had a wide smile on her face, giving her youngest daughter a kiss on the cheek and then moving on to her oldest. Tori grabbed the small bag she had brought from school, and walked upstairs to her room. She sighed, looking at her old, white room. Since she went to boarding school since the begging of middle school, she never spent that much time on her own room, so it was nothing special. It was almost like a storage place, everything old, that she didn't wanted to throw away was there. Her old computer, that still worked but not as well as her PearBook, her old clothes and stuffed animals, same old stuff. The only thing she really like about her room was the bed, a king sized bed, and the best part about it, was that there was only the ceiling above it, no top bunk. But it wasn't enough to bring a smile to her face.

Tori sat down on her bed, and looked for some clean gym clothes, thinking that the only thing she was going to do throughout the break was run. Drink coffee, and run. She changed into her sports bra and shorts, when she glanced over at her old Laptop, and walked over to it, turning it on feeling nostalgic inside. Bringing back very old memories was always a way to cheer her up, and she desperately needed some of that.

It took a while for it to turn on completely, and as Tori saw her old desktop background a small smile lifted the corners of her mouth. It was a photo from herself, back in her freshmen year of high school, with one of her arms wrapped around Andre, and the other one in Cat. Jade is standing next to them with an annoyed face, and Robbie wasn't on it, she remembered because he was the one who took the photo. Tori was shocked by how much they had changed, they all looked so grown up now, and how even though Tori was in the middle, she still looked somewhat misplaced. Because Beck wasn't there.

She opened her pictures file, and started to go through her old photos, most of them had Beck on it. And every photo was a new reason for Tori to begin crying again. She stopped in a photo of Beck, staring at the TV, with no clue that she was taking a photo of him. His hair was short, his clothes didn't match and his looked as awkward as any fourteen year old did.

She analyzed him, when a weird feeling took over her. She didn't feel anything for that Beck, the old Beck, everything she felt for that Beck was old feelings she felt when she too was younger, and it was a lot different than what she felt for him now. She wasn't caught up in old memories, it was the new Beck, the Beck with amazing hair, that smoked and was an idiot sometimes, that was the Beck she wanted to be with.

_'Too bad it's too late.'_ She thought, shutting down her Laptop and going back to her bed, turning on her TV instead of putting on her shoes to go for a run. She flipped through the channels, until a very familiar scene caught her eye.

_"Why are you here?"_

_"You said stay, so I stayed"_

Tori's eyes filled with tears, as she watched the movie. There was nothing that she wanted more right now than to go back in time. She broke up with Ryder one day too late, one minute too late! If she had called him a few minutes before Beck had gotten into his car... Who knows what would have happened?

She grabbed her PearPhone, and took a deep breath, before dialing the numbers of the boy she couldn't get her mind off.

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A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you liked this one! Please review, and I will upload as soon as this reaches 10 or more reviews! Love you all!

**Please check out my new bori story 'Hello Stranger'**

- Kiribati


	20. Chapter 20

Beck threw a mint, aiming for his friend's agape mouth, who was passed out on Pixie's couch, hugging a bong. He threw another one, and got it right laughing a lot harder than he should have. He got up, taking a _Sharpie_ out of his pocket, trying to think of something to draw on his friends face. Maybe he would right _'Proud Directioner'_ that would sure hurt him a lot more than just a mustache. He opened his pen, and was about to draw the _'P'_ when his Pearphone rang.

He took it out of his pocket, and the pen fell from his hand as he saw who it was. He walked away from his friend, and brought the phone up to his ear. "Tori" He leaned agaist the window, it was the sixth or seventh time she had called him since he had gotten to the UK. He had ignored them all, not feeling confident and well enough to handle talking to her. He didn't know if it was the weed or the alcohol, but he figured now was the perfect time to talk to her. He felt the cold breeze coming from outside, where he spotted Pixie and her two best friends walking in the snow. They were smoking while Pixies dog ran around in the snow, and laughing, a lot. He suddenly wished he was looking at Cat, Tori, and even Jade instead. He swallowed thick air.

"I called you six times! I really needed to talk to you!" Tori answered angrily, as she paced around her living room. "God, Beck, are you really childish enough to avoid me?!"

He sighed. "Did you really call just to yell at me?"

"No" She said, now sitting down in the couch, twirling her fingers one her hair. "I called because I miss you, you're my best friend." He stayed silent, looking straight ahead as the three girls outside waved at him. He was so focused on Tori's voice he forgot to wave back. He turned around, and walked upstairs to be alone. "Also," Tori began, figuring that if he wasn't going to talk to her, she might as well say everything that was on her mind and hope for the best. "I.. I broke up with Ryder, a couple of days ago."

Beck couldn't let himself be happy. That wasn't the first time Tori and Ryder had broken up, or at least that Tori thought they had broken up, just for him to find out a day later that they had gotten back together. "What does that mean?" He asked, running his fingers through his hair. "Things will never go back to normal Tori, I can't just be your friend anymore. I..." He cut himself off, sighing heavily.

"I know." She said. "But I broke up with him for a reason... I don't want to be friends either, Beck I-I want _you_." She bit her bottom lip, waiting for his answer, but the dead silence on the other side of the line only made her more nervous. "It was a choice, it was the only option, you're the only one-"

"I think," he began, and she shut her eyes, ready to hear the words she was most afraid of. "you need time to figure out what you want."

"I've made up-" She tried again, but he continued talking.

"I know that you think that. Tori, believe me, there's nothing more that I wan than for what you're saying to be true, but I can't risk it." He breathed i and out slowly. "I'll wait for you, and when we go back to class we'll start whatever we decide, if you want to. But you need time to think, for the sake of both of us."

She swallowed, letting the words he had just said sank into her mind. What he had said made sense, she thought, he had all the reasons to believe she was going to run back to her ex-boyfriends. "Okay." She said, getting back up. "Just promise me something... Don-Don't sleep with anyone, if you did before I really don't care, but now... Just-"

"I won't." He said, right before he heard Pixie's voice, calling him downstairs. "I promise." He said, a promise he would make sure to keep. "Tori..."

"What?" She asked, breathing fast, anxious.

"I love you."

She heard the click on the line, he had ended the call, and she was breathless. "Dear god, did you see our Grandma's ghost or something?!" Her sister, Trina, said as she walked downstairs with a big bowl of mayonnaise. Tori sat back down on the couch, too shocked to even hear her sister's words. She held the phone between her hands 'He loves me?', she thought, re-playing the three words over and over in her mind.

Beck walked downstairs, where his friend had now woken up and was playing with Pixie's dog. He looked over at the door where the three girls took our their coats. "Why did you ignore us?" The friend on the left, Fleur, asked.

"I did?" Beck nodded his head, running his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, I was on the phone." The usual smile on Pixie's face faded.

"You were talking to Tori, weren't you?" The living room quieted down.

"...Awkward." Fleur said, walking past them, and heading to the kitchen. Pixie took a step closer to him, and the room emptied, as their friends followed Fleur to leave the both of them alone.

"She broke up with her boyfriend, and..." He didn't need to finish his sentence, for her to get the message. She walked towards him, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving the red stain.

"I'm happy for you, love." She said, with a friendly, but hurt, smile on her face. Somehow she knew it in her heart that was going to happen, she just hoped she wasn't around anymore when it did. "I really am Beck." She told him, walking past him, and joining their friends on the kitchen.

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A/N: I hope you guys liked this chapter! Remember the **ten review** rule and also, I wanted to let you know there will be two or three chapter more tops. We are actually reaching the **end** this time, but I do have a new story called **'Hello Stranger'** and if you could check that out it would mean the world to me! Love you all, always,

- Kiribati


	21. Chapter 21

Tori got out of her Trina's car, grabbing the only small bag she took home, with the basic things she needed for the break, took a step back, and watched her sister drive away. She had butterflies in her stomach, and as each second flew by she felt as if the number of butterflies had gotten so big they were now spread around her entire body. She was vibrating, with fear and excitement and anxiety and even some emotions that she didn't know she could feel.

She walked along the race track, until reaching the square that divided the boys and girls dorms. Students were running around, carrying their things, but she couldn't find him. "Excu... Tori, hi!" The small freshmen girl, who had helped her during the break said, with a fresh smile on her face.

"Hey..." Tori said, still looking around, for the boy she ached for. And then she remembered the way she had treated the girl, and turned her attention to her for just a few seconds. "Thank you, for the advice." The freshmen happily sighed, and Tori glanced over at her bag, who had 'Katie' written all over it. "It was nice to see you, Katie." The girl squeaked in happiness, and ran away.

Tori nodded her head, and walked towards her room. Taking out her key, and, unlike her first day of school, she had been the last one to get there. And she didn't have a boy by her side. "Hiii!" Cat said, pulling her friend into a hug. "How was your break? Did you talk to Ryder? Are you ok? Doe-"

"Slow down Cat" Tori told her, and the small redheaded girl skipped back to her castle. "Hey guys." She now said to Andre and Jade, who were playing cards on the floor.

"You have a weird look on your face today." Jade pointed out, which only made Tori more nervous. Since she hadn't told her friends about making out with Beck, why they had stopped talking and... Basically everything involving him, she also hand't told them about the call. Or that Beck said that she loved her, and that the two of them hadn't talked ever since.

Tori had spent endless hours trying to figure out why he hand't called, torturing herself as she thought about all of the worse case scenarios. "No I don't!" Tori shot back, trying to change the subject. "You are the one with the weird look!"

"What happened?" Andre asked, in a bored tone of voice, already knowing that she was either going to start talking about Beck, or that she had just found out that she was allergic to coffee.

"It's nothing" She said, sitting in her bed. "It's just..." Her voice trailed off as she heard a knock on the door. Cat jumped off the top bunk, and skipped to the door.

"Hiii!" She said, but couldn't yet see who it was... She saw a combat book walking inside, her heart raced.

"Beck!" She said, shooting up straight, and hitting her head on the top bunk. "Oh fuck!"

She fell back onto her bed. 'Amazing! What a great way for him to see me after a freaking month!' She yelled in her head, as she slowly sat up, and saw everyone surrounding her... Including Beck.

"You okay?" He asked, and she nodded. He reached over to her forehead, running his thumb over it. "I'm gonna get some ice for you." He said, heading out the hall.

She was confused, maybe it was because she had just hit her head. But she was ninety percent sure that it had more to do with the effect Beck had on her.

"I'm going to see Robbie." Cat announced, and Andre shrugged.

"Want to come?" He asked her. "We can meet Beck on the way." She denied, and waited for her three friends to get out to get back up.

She began to run around, nervous. She didn't know if she should pretend like she was really hurt, for him to try and take care of her, or put more make up on and act like she has never been better... She heard three knocks on the door. It didn't matter what she wanted to seem to be feeling, she was freaking out, and it was pretty obvious. Tori walked over to the door, and opened it, letting him in. He looked just like before he had left, and yet he looked completely different.

Beck stood at her door with a bag of ice in his hands, trying to figure out what he was going to say to her. He didn't not expect the reaction he got from her, he could clearly see that she was just as nervous as he was. But was she nervous in a good way, or a bad way? "Ice." He said, offering her the bag, with a friendly smile.

"Thanks..." He sat down in the couch, as she brought the bag up to her forehead, standing in front of him.

"So," he began, and her heart beat fast. She knew he was waiting for her to say something, but he had spoken first, and she didn't know how to begin. So she would just let him talk. "how was your break?"

All of the confusion in her mind went away, being replaced by rage. "How was my break? How was my break?!" He was take aback by her aggressive tone of voice that he was not expecting. "Let me see... You tell me you love me, and then you hang up! And to top it all off you disappear!"

"I was giving you time to figure out what you wanted!" He said, now also getting up.

"I didn't know that giving me time meant dropping a bomb like that, and not call me again!" She stopped, changing the hand that held the ice bag. Looked up at him, and her nose caught a different scent coming from him. It was still a mixture of cologne and hair products... But he seemed cleaner somehow. He had stopped smoking again. "I spent the entire break trying to figure out what the hell was..." He stood there, only half listening to her lecture. Because all he thin of, was that her neck was free of hickeys, and that she looked damn sexy when she was angry. "...Weren't you the least curious to know if, I don't know, if maybe I loved you back?!" He took a step forward it was impossible for him to control himself any longer. "I love you Beck, only you."

He grabbed her by her waist with one hand, and placed the one the left side of her face, with his fingers digging on her hair. And without any hesitation, he kissed her. Tori dropped the ice bag, bringing both her hands up to his shoulders and down to his back, tracing back to his neck as she got lost on his lips. For every thought, every feeling, and every moment she had had with for him on the past four years, they were all compensated with that kiss.

Tori pulled away for a brief moment. "You're an idiot, you know that right?"

He looked at her, and at her swollen lips and red cheeks. Feeling her body entirely pressed against his, knowing that he could finally call her mine. That made him go crazy in a way he had never felt before. "I know." He said, tightening his hand around her lower back. "And you know I love you, right?" She nodded her head with a giddy smile on her face, leaning towards him, stopping as their lips brushed.

"I love you too, so much..." She said, as she captured his lips with her own, and pushing him onto her bed, laying on top, and looking at the wide smile on his face. "Idiot." She said, before he pulled her back down to him again.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! I really hope you liked this one, and get ready cuz the next one is the final! So gimme the review and I will give you the finale! Love you all,

- Kiribati

**Please check out my new story Hello Stranger.**


	22. Chapter 22

**2014**

The morning sun in California shined as bright as usual, students ran around the Campus, carrying their stuff to their dorms, excited that their last period of classes was finally starting before summer vacation. Except for two of them, who got out of the same car, wishing they could fast forward life to college. Where they would finally be able to spend as much time together as they wanted, not having to deal with high school teachers, and separate rooms. She got into Julliard, and he got into NYU, the school each of them wanted in the first place, with the advantage of living in the same city.

Beck got out of his car, and walked towards the truck, to get the couple of bags they took home for spring break. He put either one of them in his shoulders, and shut the truck, turning around to see the only thing he actually wanted to. "So, I was thinking," Tori began, intertwining her fingers with his, and bringing their hands up. She glanced over at both left hands, where they each had tattooed half of the Yin-Yang in their hands, and smiled. Resting her head on his chest, and looking up at him. "Our very own traditional Sadie Hawkins formal is coming around next week." He smiled, thinking it was the cutest thing for her to make a formal invite, even though it was obvious that they were gonna go together. "And since the girls are the ones supposed to ask the boys..."

She grinned, and he leaned in, kissing her. Their hands broke apart and he wrapped one arm around her waste and the other on her back. She gripped his shoulders. "Love you." He said, placing a soft kiss on her lips. Tori listened to him, and as those words left his mouth she shut her eyes, just thinking about how good it felt to have it mean just the way she wanted to.

"Stop being gross!" Jade yelled, and they both roll their eyes breaking apart. "Thank you." The three of them walked together to the girls dorm, where Beck left her bags, and went back to his room, walking on cloud nine as he greeted his roommates, and best friends, after throwing Rex out the window. And he had a great feeling that his last semester would be as epic as he ever wished it would be.

**Beck**

I knock on the girl's door, and look down at my left hand while waiting for someone to open. Even though Tori and I got these tattoos over a month ago, I still get chills whenever I look at it. My parents were so pissed off when they saw a picture of it, but like I told them, not only I'm eighteen and therefor can make my own decision, they sent me to a boarding school, they obviously don't want to deal with the shit that I do. And I will forever thank them for that.

"Hiii!" Cat says, but all I see is pink fluff, everywhere.

"Cat, can you move your dress please?" I hear Tori asking, but only catch a glimpse of her, as more pink gets in the way. I don't know how Cat's even going to be able to get through the door, and she'll probably occupy the entire dance floor by herself. Yeah I am not exaggerating at all. I hear some walking around, and finally Tori is able to get out, more like pushed out by the dress, and towards me. Not that I mind, at all.

I take a step back so that she can stand up properly, and take the time to look at her. "You look..." I can't find an adjective for it, but I think the look on my face tells her everything she needs to know. I just hope she likes the surprise I have planned for her. She wanted to be the one to plan dinner before the dance, but I knew she wouldn't be able to do that and get ready, plus, I had something in my mind I've wanted to do for months, and I think today is the perfect opportunity.

**Tori**

Tori stood up, and looked at Beck, who was wearing a huge overall. A great contrast with her strapless, deep purple bandage dress and silver heels. I appreciate my boyfriend's unique style, but unless it's snowing, overalls just looked plain creepy to me. "You look interesting?" That's the best I can say about his clothes, even though he is looking at me like he's about to come undone. Which I have to say makes it up for the crappy clothes.

"You'll see why." He says, taking my hand as we walk outside. There are couples and groups of friends dress in formal wear walking all around campus, and it's nice that I'm actually here to be a part of all of this. Unlike last year, when Ryder picked me up even earlier than usual, because he thought all school dances were lame, and that his friend's party that he wanted to go to was much cooler. Right, ten people in a dirty old basement sharing a bong and a keg of beer is _way_ cooler than a this dance.

I roll my eyes at the thought of him, but unlike before getting Ryder out of my mind is the easiest thing in the world. Because all of my lines of thought lead her to the same path, Beck. Who's looking down at me with the most charming smile in the world. We walk along the race track, until getting near the gates of the school, walking in the grass. "What does this place reminds you of?" He asks me.

**Yin-Yang**

She saw a tree, and next to it he had set up a picnic, with fairy lights around the towel, and a basket with everything they might need inside of it. She was, to say the least, amazed. "This is the place we talked before you left, four years ago." She told him, letting go of his hand and walking closer to the fairy lights. She stopped by the tree, and leaned against it, enjoying the view of what her best friend had prepared for her.

"Didn't you use to think about what would've have happened if my taxi hadn't arrived?" He took a few steps closer to her. "And wished you could go back in time and change it all?"

She nodded her head, and bit her bottom lip, shrugging. "All the time." He took off his overall, and her chin dropped. "I can't believe this." She grinned, watching him walk up to her in a striped polo shirt, Nike tennis shoes and perfect, mama's boy jeans. Just like he used to wear, four years ago. Though just the way he walked, and ran his fingers through his hair made it almost impossible for her to picture the younger Beck. He got closer as she reached for his arm, and he rested it on tree, with the other one her hair as he hovered above her. "Promise you're not going to replace me with some Brit girl." She said, still carrying a slight grin on her face, as he slid down his hand to her hip, clenching it, pressing harder against him, as dig her fingers on his hair.

"You're irreplaceable." He whispered with their lips brushing together, she closed her eyes, and he kissed her deeply, until they found themselves out of breath, re-living the moment they thought about during all that time over and over again, making it up to their younger selves, in all the ways they could imagine. She pulled away briefly, her hands resting on his chest.

"Okay, we're in public." She said, breathless, and he kissed her forehead. Before pulling away to get dinner, and going to the dance.

Beck put on his overall, rushing to his car, where he kept a blazer and decent boots, so he wouldn't have to go to the dance dressed like his old self, or as he liked to call, Robbie without all the weird. The place was packed, and just like Beck imagined, at least a twenty percent of the dance floor was occupied by Cat, and her extremely puffy dress.

They danced together, and with their friends, even with the freshmen, Katie, who seemed to be one of the happiest people to be there. And it didn't matter if it was a slow song, k-pop or dubstep, the gang wanted to enjoy their last Sadie Hawkins dance as much as they could before college. By the end of the night, the freshmen and sophomores said goodbye to their dates, before they broke their curfews, the juniors enjoyed their last our of freedom to walk around with their friends, make out with their dates, and enjoy the night. And the seniors slow danced, threw vodka at the school's punch, and tried to keep the party going for as long as they could.

Tori sat down on the edge of the stage, completely worn out after dancing for almost four hours straight. Beck came back with two glasses of water, handing it one to her, and taking a sip of his. He finished the glass, and placed it on a table, going back and standing in front of her, taking her free hand. "Did you enjoy your night?" He asked, and she smiled.

"I should be the one asking you that, since it's the girls night to ask the boy's out." He raised his eyebrow, and sat down beside her. "But yes, I did." She put her glass down, and laid down on the empty stage, shutting her eyes. "I'm so tired I almost wish I was incapable of walking, so you'd carry me back to my room." He looked down at her, and placed his arm under her knees and on her back, lifting her up.

"Smooth way to ask." He said, and she giggled, kissing him on the cheek, as he carried her outside. She played with the collar of his shirt as he walked back to the girls dorm, and he put her down as they got to her door. She opened up, and as she already expected, her two friends were still out, probably playing a drinking game with the theater club.

"So..." He said, with his hands on his pockets, standing on her door frame, and she bit her bottom lip, trying to pretend that she wasn't having the very inappropriate thoughts that she was. "Cat and Jade gonna be here soon?"

She smiled, taking a step closer to him and grabbing his tie, loosening it up and pulling him inside by it, resting against the door, and as he trailed kisses along her jaw and neck, she locked it, thinking that her roommates would stay out for at least another half hour. She began to unbutton his shirt, as he turned off the lights. They were head over hills in love, and as they moved closer to the bed they promised each other to keep it that way for as long as they lived.

Fortunately, that promise was one they would keep forever.

**The End**


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